Envision Essentials launches education series

Lauren LaRocca, The Frederick News-Post, Md.
·2 min read

Mar. 9—Envision Essentials is a series of workshops with a mission of engaging residents of Frederick County in their community with courses featuring local experts on environmental equity, land use and smart growth, and social justice and government.

The series will kick off its spring semester on April 30.

The first session of the series, hosted by Envision Frederick County, will be held at the Tearoom at Gambrill Park's scenic High Knob Area. It is the first of two spring courses focused on the environmental equity portions of the Frederick County Climate Emergency Mobilization Workgroup's report to the county council and city of Frederick.

Envision Frederick County is a nonprofit dedicated to enhancing the social, economic and environmental quality of life in Frederick County.

In the first session, on April 30, speakers from Frederick and Montgomery counties will explain how Green Banks can assemble investor funding to jumpstart and finance projects for local homeowners and businesses for energy efficiency upgrades, renewable energy projects and other proven clean energy technologies, a recommendation for Frederick County; ways to manage homes and infrastructure amid increasingly destructive storms; and the need for canopy in the face of increasingly hot summers, especially in low-income areas where trees are less prevalent.

The second session, on May 21, will be held at the Community Room of the Common Market's Seventh Street location. The session will focus on local food systems — specifically food insecurity and wasted food, one of the drivers behind greenhouse gas and methane generation. Speakers will address local urban gardening and food supply programs in food deserts, as well as school gardens and green school projects in low-income communities.

The last two sessions, on citizen navigation of government and smart growth and land use, will take place in the fall and will be announced later this spring.

All sessions run from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. and include lunch and a "discovery walk" at a nearby location significant to the day's topic.

The cost is $30-$40, depending on how many sessions attendees choose. Several scholarships are available for each session.

Registration opens March 11 at envisionfrederickcounty.org.