The January Quarterly Meeting of the BES focused on Environmental Justice.

The meeting was held in person at the Technology Research Center (TRC), Room 206 on UMBC’s campus.

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DOWNLOAD Meeting Notes and Discussion

Full details and agenda below.
Printable PDF version HERE

BES Quarterly Science Meeting: Environmental Justice Practice and Research

TIME: 8:30am – 1pm, Wednesday, January 25th

LOCATION

Physical:

Room 206
UMBC Technology Research Center (TRC)
5200 Westland Blvd
Arbutus, MD 21227

Parking:

UMBC parking lot #25 surrounds the Technology Research Center. If you park in this lot and would like to have free parking, you will need to provide the following vehicle information to the TRC building manager (Patricia Smith) on a sign-in sheet upon entering the building:

Tag Number and State; Make and Model; Color

AGENDA

8:30     Coffee, Snacks, and Hellos

9:00     Goals and Introductions

Moderator, Tanaira Cullens, Environmental Scientist, Biohabitats

• Become familiar with
  • Topic
  • Practices, findings, and data
  • Needs and opportunities
  • Organizations and individuals
• Identify actions: Let’s not let this meeting be “one and done”
• Be comfortable with being uncomfortable

9:15     Brief Orientation to Topic

Morgan Grove, USDA Forest Service

• Disamenities / Amenities // Distributional (Patterns) / Procedural (Processes)
  • Linking Distributional and Procedural over Time
• EJ as a resilient system: an expanded set of “parts”, feedbacks, and long-term understanding (how did it come to be)
  • Housing, zoning, employment, education, policing, wealth creation, and so on?
• Other perspectives / ideas?

9:35     Practice:

What is the current state of EJ practice in Baltimore that could include policy, planning, and management perspectives and from government and civic society sectors?

1. Meghan Hazer Alvarez, Watershed Planning + Partnerships (DPW)
2. Tree Equity, MD DNR Forest Service
3. Mark Montgomery, Pastor, Union Baptist Church

10:05     Break 

10:15     Research:

What is the current state of EJ research in Baltimore?

• Long term EJ dynamics in Baltimore, Morgan Grove
• Street Tree Diversity and Redlining in Baltimore, Karin Burghardt, University of Maryland, College Park
• Mosquitos and Community Engagement, Dawn Biehler, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

11:05     Engaging / Sharing Practice / Research:

What are the needs and opportunities for better engaging EJ practices and research from community to municipal levels: listening and sharing in Baltimore?

• The problem of “Us” talking to “Us”
  • People who are experiencing the injustices
• Are there other opportunities to expand who is in the conversation?
  • Hosted by other groups such as BUILD / ACT Now
• Times that are more accessible: weekends / evenings
• Institutional barriers to connecting Practice, Research, and Education

11:35     Production:

What are the needs and opportunities for the production of EJ research in Baltimore, including students at different “stages” of life, academics, and academic institutions in Baltimore?

• Landscape of Fear
• Policy and the “community meeting” requirement for projects
• Intergenerational/socioeconomic barriers
• Mentorship Opportunities
  • University programs such as iCARE
  • Parks & People BRANCHES program
  • Temple X school

12:05     Mutual Aid and Next steps:

Ideas for future activities for partnership

• What’s the network?
  • Who’s involved and who’s missing
• Where can we be helpful?
• How can we be helpful?
  • BES website: Synthesis research documents with links to publications and data
  • Overall city synthesis of practice and research
• Calendar of events

1:00     Adjourn