2022 Keep Maryland Beautiful Grants Total $320,000

Grants Supports Communities, Projects, and Schools

“Trees Not Trash” a community initiative funded by the 2021 Keep Maryland Beautiful Clean Up and Green Up Grant, focuses on beautifying city neighborhoods by planting street trees and removing litter within Sustainable Community Development areas, while engaging the residents on the benefits of urban trees. Photo courtesy Forever Maryland.

Forever Maryland is proud to announce that 85 grants totaling $320,000 have been awarded toward environmental education, community cleanup and beautification projects through the Keep Maryland Beautiful program.

These annual grants are funded by the Maryland Environmental Trust, Forever Maryland, Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) and Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT).

“Keep Maryland Beautiful grants help improve, sustain, and enhance communities all across our state,” Maryland Natural Resources Secretary Jeannie Haddaway-Riccio said. “These local initiatives also help Maryland meet our goals of cleaner water and access to green space for all our citizens.”

“DHCD is pleased to provide $250,000 to nonprofits, local governments and community groups,” said DHCD Secretary Kenneth C. Holt. “These grants provide support for local projects and activities that directly impact litter removal, greening and beautification, and improving citizen stewardship in communities statewide.”

“It’s important to MDOT’s mission that we contribute to environmental stewardship across Maryland,” said MDOT Secretary James F. Ports Jr. “This year’s package of 16 MDOT grants – which include funds for purchasing native shrubs, getting rid of invasive species, educating students and maintaining a pollinator garden – build on the department’s commitment to preserve our ecosystem. I look forward to seeing these projects bloom.”

Keep Maryland Beautiful recipients included schools, nonprofit groups, municipalities and land trusts in 20 counties and Baltimore City. Many of these grants focus on developing and supporting communities, families, youth and students who take personal responsibility for the health of their communities, protecting nature in their backyards and seeking ways to help reduce or resolve environmental challenges. 

“We’re thrilled with the success we’ve seen from the grant program,” said Forever Maryland Chair Nick Dilks. “This program will continue to make a significant environmental, economic, health, and recreational impact across Maryland through these new grant projects.“

Awards given this year were:

• One Aileen Hughes award totaling $5,000, awarded to an individual representing a Maryland land trust for outstanding leadership, partnership and innovation in a conservation project. The grant is awarded to the Maryland land trust in recognition of the individual’s efforts and good work. The grant is given annually to honor the late Aileen Hughes, a true leader in the conservation movement.
• 12 Citizen Stewardship awards totaling $17,500, given in honor of Bill James, who drafted the legislation that founded Maryland Environmental Trust, and Margaret Rosch Jones, former executive director of the Keep Maryland Beautiful program. These grants are awarded to schools, nonprofits and other community organizations whose missions are centered upon directly engaging community members in environmental education and stewardship. These grants also support organizations that demonstrate active engagement as defenders of the environment by developing innovative solutions to local environmental problems. 
• 61 Clean Up & Green Up Maryland awards totaling $250,000. This grant was established in 2017 to help community groups and nonprofit organizations statewide with neighborhood beautification activities that include litter removal, greening activities, community education, and citizen stewardship statewide.
• 11 Janice Hollmann Grant awards totaling $47,500, given to Maryland land trusts to increase capacity, support community programing and innovation and foster stronger, better connected land trusts. All grants require a 100 percent match from the land trust of in-kind services and privately raised funds. The grant is given in memory of Janice Hollmann, who exemplified citizen leadership of local land trusts in Maryland.

2022 recipients of Keep Maryland Beautiful Grants include:

Allegany County

Board of County Commissioners of Allegany County

Historic Frostburg, a Maryland Main Street Community, Inc.

Anne Arundel County
Annapolis Green Inc.

Annapolis Maritime Museum & Park

ClearShark Charitable Foundation – ClearShark H2O

Scenic Rivers Land Trust Inc.

Baltimore City
3200 Carlisle Block Association Inc.

Audrey Carter DBA Youth Ventures

Baltimore Green Space – A Land Trust for Community Managed Open Space Inc.

Baltimore Sister Cities Inc. 

Cathedral of the Incarnation

Ednor Gardens Lakeside Civic Association

Fell’s Point Main Street

Greater Baybrook Alliance

Gwynns Falls Community Association

Lafayette Square Community Development Corporation

Living Classrooms Foundation

Milton – Montford Neighbors 

Mount Clare Community Council Inc. 

Pigtown Main Street 

Plantation Park Heights Urban Farm

Rebuild Johnston Square Neighborhood Org

Station North Arts District, a Program of Central Baltimore Partnership

Stillmeadow Community Fellowship

Superior Assisted Living LLC

The Sixth Branch

Baltimore County
Back River Foundation t/a Maryland Waterways Foundation

Boy Scouts of America/Troop 706

Dundalk Renaissance

Irvine Nature Center

NeighborSpace of Baltimore County Inc.

Northeast Towson Improvement Association

Reisterstown Improvement Association

Ridgely Manor Community Association

Sussex Community Association Inc.

Calvert County
All Saints Episcopal Church

American Chestnut Land Trust Inc

Carroll County
Downtown Sykesville Connection Inc.

Town of Manchester

Cecil County

The High 5 Initiative Inc.

Charles County
Beyond the Classroom Inc.

Charles County Government

Conservancy for Charles County Inc.

Dorchester County 

Commissioners of East New Market

Frederick County
Brunswick Main Street

Catoctin Land Trust

Downtown Frederick Partnership

Friends of Historic Brunswick, Maryland 

Town of Emmitsburg

Town of Middletown

Garrett County

Garrett County Government

Town of Oakland

Harford County
Harford Land Trust Inc.

Havre de Grace Alliance

Lower Susquehanna Heritage Greenway

Howard County

EC250 Inc.

Ellicott City Partnership

Patapsco Heritage Greenway Inc.

The Community Ecology Institute

Kent County
Galena Tree & Park Committee

Montgomery County
Amula Foundation

Bethesda Green

Charles Koiner Center for Urban Farming, Incorporated 

Gaithersburg Parks, Arts, and Recreation Corporation

Rock Creek Conservancy

Takoma Langley Crossroads Development Authority Inc.

The Montgomery County Parks Foundation

Prince George’s County
Alice Ferguson Foundation

Cheverly Native Planting Project

City of Greenbelt – Department of Public Works

Defensores de la Cuenca

Keep Prince George’s County Beautiful

Laurel Main Street Organization

Town of Edmonston

University of Maryland

St. Mary’s County
Southern MD RC&D Board Inc.

Talbot County

Eastern Shore Land Conservancy

Washington County
Antietam-Concocheague Watershed Alliance

Ladders to Leaders

Town of Smithsburg

Town of Williamsport

Wicomico County

Youth Environmental Action Summit

Worcester County
Lower Shore Land Trust Inc

Town of Berlin

More information on the grants is available online.