NeighborSpace is honored to be a member of the Steering Committee for a new coalition of groups working on environmental issues in the county known as the Baltimore County Green Alliance (BCGA). The BCGA formed in response to the promise of the new administration for change, especially its interest in receiving policy ideas from those of us on the frontlines of environmental and conservation work in the county.

The Steering Committee, representing several established, county-based, environmental organizations, met in early December 2018 and borrowed from the policy platforms of those groups to create an online survey. It was distributed in mid-December to a list of 57 environmental groups known to be working in the county.

A credit to the administration’s promise of a more inclusive government is the fact that 24 organizations completed the full survey under a very tight timeline during the busy holiday season. Twenty-three policy priorities resulted and they span five goal areas, including (1) Environmental regulations, (2) Good government, (3) Sustainable development, (4) Environmental literacy, and (5) Land and open space preservation. These are summarized in a very brief report available on the BCGA's webpage, along with an overview of the types of work undertaken by the responding organizations.

The Steering Committee has many plans for growing the BCGA and getting the alliance of organizations together for a meeting this winter. We are hopeful that we can be a trusted source for input to the new administration. Given our vast email lists and volunteer networks, we can also be a vehicle for making taxpayer dollars go further in implementing the new administration's programs.