We understand that the new normal of our day-to-day routines and the daily headlines have become unsettling to say the least.  We want you to know that the Environmental Finance Center is still here to support your needs. There has perhaps been no more critical time to help communities identify ways to operate more efficiently and think about how to pay for the activities that improve resilience, promote local economies, and ensure equitable access to critical resources such as food, clean water and recreational open space. We are grateful for the opportunity to continue to serve your needs, and we hope you will reach out to us directly if there is more we can do for you and your community.  

 

-Jennifer Cotting, Director, Environmental Finance Center 

 

Looking for continuing education opportunities while spending more time at home? EFC can help!

 

The MOST Center has moved to the University of Maryland! All MOST Center content will still be managed by EFC - but now with increased support from UMD. The website's features and online courses will look and function similarly to the previous platform; however, all courses will now be hosted at  UMD Open Learning - a catalog of non-credit continuing education opportunities from the University. If you already have a UMD Directory ID, simply use your current credentials to register. Non-UMD users wishing to enroll in a course will need to create a UMD Associate Account. To get started, download and follow the instructions here:  

 

HOW TO ENROLL IN MOST OPEN LEARNING COURSES

 

Check out our complete list of course offerings at https://mostcenter.umd.edu/courses .

 

Questions? Contact us at  mostcenter@umd.edu .

The Environmental Finance Center and the MOST Center are pleased to announce the release of our newest online course: Funding Urban Forestry Programs .

 

Urban trees provide a wealth of well-documented environmental, social, and economic benefits to communities. They are a cost-effective component of stormwater management programs as well as powerful carbon sinks and oxygen producers, improving air quality, enhancing public health, and contributing to climate change mitigation. Given the many benefits that trees provide, this course will help communities overcome the principal barrier for increasing urban tree canopies: the lack of adequate funding to plan and carry out tree planting and maintenance programs. This course presents practical strategies for funding and financing municipal urban tree canopy programs in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. While the primary target audience includes policy makers and urban forestry managers, the content may be of interest to anyone involved in promoting the development and maintenance of thriving community forests.

 

Register NOW and earn 1.5 contact hours!!!

 

In case you missed it, don't forget our companion publication Financing Urban Tree Canopy Programs: A Guidebook for Municipalities in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed .

 

Finally, stay tuned for  Making Pet Waste Management Work for Your Water Quality Goals  coming later this month to the MOST Center!

 

Click  HERE  to see our course catalog!

An interdisciplinary team of graduate students from UMD's School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, including EFC Project Assistant Shayne Piltz, has landed one of four finalist slots in the seventh annual HUD Innovation in Affordable Housing Student Design and Planning (IAH) Competition 2020, beating out over 32 teams from some of the finest and most prestigious graduate-level programs in the United States. UMD will go up against Yale University, University of Michigan and University of California-Berkeley this spring, with virtual presentations replacing in-person ones do to COVID-19.   The winning team will be awarded $20,000.     

 

Team Maryland is: Maggie Curran (Team Leader, M.C.P.), Shayne Piltz (M.ARCH, M.C.P.), Tochi Chimaobi Ohakawa (M.ARCH, MRED), Sam Bohmfalk (M.H.P, MRED) and Andrew Walker (M.ARCH, MRED). Maria Day-Marshall, Director of the Real Estate Development Program and Bonstra | Haresign's Rob McClennan, AIA, are the team's advisors.

 

"We are thrilled to see our students return to the finals at IAH," said Dean Donald Linebaugh. "Their efforts are a testament to the hands-on, interdisciplinary collaboration we strive to offer our students throughout their Maryland experience."

 

The IAH competition is built on the philosophy that ideas and innovations from the next generation of professionals are essential to fulfilling the need for affordable, sustainable housing. The IAH challenges interdisciplinary, graduate-level teams to address the social, economic and environmental issues that surround a real-world housing problem in the United States, by creating innovative and original solutions through development, design and finance. This year's competition asks teams to design a LEED-rated, low-income housing complex in a fast-growing part of Santa Fe, New Mexico, that offers a high-density, vibrant, community-focused scheme in the spirit of Santa Fe's Southwestern architectural heritage. The location offered a number of opportunities as well as immense challenges for the students, from an arid climate to a pattern of uncoordinated growth surrounding the site.

The School has an enviable record in the IAH Competition. UMD teams were finalists in 2016, 2018 and 2019, placing second in 2016 and winning the competition in 2018 and 2019.