Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Regional Administrator Shawn M. Garvin announced on Monday that the city won a $200,000 brownfields grant from the EPA.
The money will be used to assess brownfields sites for contamination, allowing them to be redeveloped into green spaces.
"The Growing Green Initiative is my administration's strategy to transform city-owned vacant lots from liabilities into assets,” Rawlings-Blake said. “Making sure that such sites are safe and clean is vital, and we thank the EPA for their support of our efforts. We'll be working closely with residents and our partners in order to make the best use of these funds and ultimately create great new green spaces for Baltimore City."
The city’s Sustainability Office is working with the Historic East Baltimore Community Action Coalition as well as Civic Works, Inc., and the Parks & People Foundation. The funding comes after $1.6 million in previous grants, which have allowed the city to assess 65 sites.
“It is rewarding to be here where what was once a former industrial property is now a flourishing urban garden, and to know that more sites will become green spaces benefitting Baltimore neighborhoods,” Garvin said.
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