SILVER SPRING, MD – U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD) today joined the Chesapeake Bay Trust, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Maryland Department of Natural Resources and the Maryland Department of the Environment to announce the first grant recipients of the collaborative Green Streets-Green Jobs Initiative, a program designed to promote green streets, urban green infrastructure, and green jobs as part of an overall community or watershed plan.  Ten Maryland cities and towns were awarded $25,000-$35,000 grants for the planning and design of green infrastructure projects within the Chesapeake Bay and Anacostia watersheds.

“The Green Streets-Green Jobs Initiative is a winner because it combines the expertise and resources of federal and state governments with the know-how of local communities to improve our environment by building green streets that reduce urban runoff,” said Senator Cardin, a member of the Environment and Public Works Committee.  “The communities that have been selected to receive these grants will be able to make significant upgrades to the urban landscape.”

Senator Cardin joined top officials from the EPA, Maryland’s Department of Natural Resources and Department of the Environment, local and regional technical experts and mayors from the selected towns to discuss plans for green street/green infrastructure projects that reduce polluted runoff and create green jobs in urban areas. The Green Streets-Green Jobs awardees include: Baltimore City, College Park, University Park, Capitol Heights, Bladensburg, Edmonston, Mount Rainier, Hyattsville, Cottage City and Colmar Manor.

The Initiative, administered through the Trust’s Watershed Assistance Grant Program, supports the implementation of President Obama’s Chesapeake Bay Protection and Restoration Executive Order.   

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