Building A Minority Public Participation Agenda 

Background

The state of Maryland has experienced tremendous growth and prosperity over the past decade. During this time, Maryland has led the nation in employment growth and has become one of the wealthiest states in the country. On indicators ranging from median income to unemployment to advanced education degrees, the great state of Maryland leads the region with remarkable consistency. It is also a major player in broadening environmental awareness as a result of its national treasure, The Chesapeake Bay.

While poverty has decreased over the past 20 years according to the Maryland Alliance for the Poor (MAP), the Family Investment Administration (FIA) continues to report a significant number of minority families falling well below federal poverty levels in at least 11 of Maryland’s 24 jurisdictions and health disparities at alarming rates are being reported as a result of the state of the environment. Yet no federal or state guidelines or legislation has been enacted to encourage minority environmental responsibility.

While the health of the Chesapeake Bay, its tributaries and overall environment has significantly declined, the number of people living in poverty has significantly increased, significant geographic differences in wealth and employment patterns have continued to emerge, and no federal or state guidelines or legislation to stimulate collaborative environmental responsibility for the Chesapeake Bay, its tributaries and the overall environment of our communities.

If we don’t act now to include all citizens, these differences can only widen the gap as planners predict increased air, land and water pollution, increased urban sprawl and population growth, and few and fewer stakeholders exercising their environmental responsibility to help restore the Bay and our environment.

Over the next two decades, the region is projected to generate more than 1.6 million new jobs and gain more than 1.5 million new residents, including many new immigrants, African-Americans and retired seniors who will join those that settled here in the last decade.

This future growth provides a unique opportunity to narrow the distance between those currently involved in Bay restoration efforts and those we need on board to help. However, our success in closing this gap will depend on how well the many jurisdictions and organizations in the region can work together to create more collaborative opportunities. It will also require strengthened civic participation to ensure that all of the people who are affected by the environment are included in the forums and processes that guide the region’s restoration of the environment.


Moving Forward

Across the country, foundations, nonprofit organizations, government leaders, business executives, members of the faith-based community and concerned citizens are engaged in creating greater “regional efforts” When it comes to environmental responsibility. Environmental responsibility, as defined by the national nonprofit organization the Chesapeake Bay Foundation looks at the impact of damage to the environmental and the total health of Maryland communities and outcomes and impacts of low-income people and communities of color that are uninformed about their civic responsibility to help mitigate the problems plaguing the Bay and our environment. This emerging field challenges those working to affect change at the neighborhood level to recognize the impact that decisions about environmental responsibility throughout the region has on the lives of low-income families as well as community partners, and to actively work to engage residents in the processes that shape these decisions. Those active in this field identify a number of issue areas that impact environmental responsibility: The areas are:

- Economic Opportunity
- Education
- Environmental Justice
- Health
- Housing
- Land Use and Infrastructure
- Transportation

Leaders in the national environmental restoration movement are creating broad-based alliances focused on regional agendas to address these factors and to stimulate greater civic participation in the processes that influence equity outcomes.

In the state of Maryland, a significant number of organizations have emerged as interested parties in minority environmental responsibility conversations. Nearly 10 state agencies, legislators, businesses and other community partners have indicated their interests. Many regional groups have also surfaced, and have a strong interest in developing a coalition actively working together to strengthen efforts to restore the Bay.


The Agenda

Our long-term goal: To increase participation in environmental restoration in general and the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries in particular and reduce the disparities in the environmental community.

To accomplish this goal, we have agreed that there are a number of objectives we need to pursue. But our starting point is to begin to connect groups working toward similar outcomes but with disparate efforts and provide them with the supports to learn, improve their effectiveness, strengthen their relationships and build partnerships and coalitions for change.
Our objectives:
1. To build a network of organizations that are working to create greater collaborations in the context of environmental responsibility.
2. Define and work towards a set of specific near-term initiatives that increase the commitment of regional leaders in restoration efforts and have minority participation in environmental responsibility at the center of state and regional priorities.

Target audiences: Regional opinion leaders and organizations working on some aspect of environmental and community health, housing, transportation and equity. Includes public, private, philanthropic and nonprofit stakeholders.

The Project/Initiative will:

Cultivate leaders throughout the state to be advocates for environmental responsibility. Participants will seek to cultivate key leaders throughout the state to endorse state-wide and regional work actively to correct health, economic and social disparities in the environmental clean-up process.

Develop a statement of principles for achieving increased minority participation. Use the statement of principles as a clear first step towards building civic agreement and commitment to cleaning up neighborhoods, waterways, properties (public and private) and the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. Seek prominent elected officials, opinion leaders and business leaders as signatories to signal the importance of collective environmental responsibility to the health and vibrancy of the Chesapeake Bay and the entire region.

Identify several specific projects, investments, and/or policies that would create greater partnering in environmental restoration efforts throughout the state.

Promote collaboration with each other and with other individuals and entities that are critical to making progress, including key stakeholders such as public officials, business leaders, developers, foundations and individual donors, government representatives, faith community leaders, etc. Over time, this group could become a resource for groups looking to have more “community voice and participation” and to expand the clout of those groups working on the equity side of the “development conversation.”

Help groups share expertise and resources and leverage outside technical assistance for local groups. This would include groups providing technical and strategic assistance to each other on topics such as message framing, effective advocacy and community engagement, and linking local initiatives with broader regional agenda.

Increase awareness of the environmental landscape in the state of Maryland in and around the Chesapeake Bay: data, players, convenings and forums, existing partnerships and coalitions, opportunities for strategic work, funding streams, etc. Participants will increase their knowledge of the different jurisdictions as well as the broader “regional picture”. Participants will also learn about the efforts of other groups.

Build capacity and knowledge about the developing field of environmental responsibility. The VESC will be a source of information on best practices for other environmental clean-up efforts underway throughout the country; resources from the Chesapeake Bay Trust, the Anne Casey Foundation, the Minority Environmental Land Trust and other national groups, and linkages to training and learning opportunities nationally. Participants will feel more connected to the national movement and be continually expanding their knowledge of effective practices and strategies.

Stimulate relationship building with each other and with other individuals and entities that are critical to making progress. The VESC will plan and conduct its own events and publicize others where relationship building with key stakeholders can take place—public officials, business leaders, developers, funders and individual donors, government representatives, faith community leaders, etc.


Funding: Initial funding from the state would support an Executive Director to launch and guide the initiative during the one-year pilot phase. Additional funding will be secured to provide resources for members of the virtual facilities at local HBCUs, colleges and university to dedicate their time to the effort.

Leadership Group: The role of the leadership group would be to work with a Executive Director to develop the statement of principles and secure endorsements from organizations and leaders in their community; to be the voices of the state-wide environmental responsibility; to cultivate local leaders to be advocates of state-wide environmental responsibility; to identify several specific projects, investments, and/or policies that would create greater social and economic equity in the region and that might serve as good collaborative initiatives for a large set of players; to bring organizations in their community into the initiative; and to generally serve as leaders of the effort.

Executive Director: The role of the Executive Director would be to build and support a leadership group; to help identify and recruit other players (organizations and individuals); to help the leadership group deliver on key issues/objectives; and to keep the effort moving forward.

Specific responsibilities and deliverables for the Executive Director would include:
• Build a diverse leadership group of those willing to take on key pieces of the initiative;
• Help the leadership group and other participants define an initial list of collaborative initiatives;
• Support the leadership group in delivery of a few clear initiatives;
• Drive the process of developing a regional statement of principles that non-profit groups, philanthropy community, elected officials and business leaders could adopt;
• “Power-map” the state to identify key opinion leaders and decisions makers to target;
• Identify and recruit participants in the leadership group and broader network.
• Develop communications channels and materials for participants
• Schedule and staff learning opportunities and forums, including providing information about the equity situation in the region
• Facilitate networking and relationship-building opportunities
• Secure technical assistance resources
• Develop budget and assist with fundraising
• Coordinate external communications about the initiative and the efforts of its members
• Evaluate and report.

Make Public Conversations Make Sense 

Minority citizens want to participate in workshops and traingins and scoping sessions, but seldom do ordinary citizens understand the language of "environmental justice", "consensus and capacity building", or even what it means to promote and maintain a civic engagement process for minority citizens. The government can set up an office of minority engagement.

Minority Civic Engagement 

Increased dollars for total inclusivity and public participation in environmental matters has been ignored. In order to clean-up the Chesapeake Bay, the Anacostia and Potomac Rivers, and other waterways that are our national treasures, all citizens must get involved. That involvement requires facilitated dialogue at the grassroots level, in public housing communities and in neighborhoods where Latino, African American and other minorities seldom participate in community dialogue. The 2025 Agreement just like 2010, can not and will not mitigate environmental problems on the Bay, if all hands are not on deck.