The Maryland Sea Grant College has awarded a $100,000 grant to Washington College’s Center for Environment and Society for a two-year project to implement visioning strategies, leadership training and a technology toolkit for rural community planning on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.
The project, “Visioning for Sustaining Rural Communities on Maryland’s Eastern Shore,” follows the Rural Communities Leadership Program initiative of 2002-2003. The new program will help community leaders achieve more sustainable futures for their communities. The visioning project will develop user-friendly Geographic Information Systems (GIS)-based computer applications that, coupled with leadership development and planning, will allow communities to create alternative “visions” of their futures and adopt preferred options. The project commenced February 1.
“This is a proactive rather than the reactive approach to preserving the rural character of our region and its traditional economy based on farming, fisheries and forestry,” said Wayne Bell, Ph.D., Director of the Center for Environment and Society (CES). “Our communities need to develop an understanding of how forces for change that are usually perceived as negatives—for instance, the influx of population and residential development pressures—can provide opportunities rather than threats for sustainable community development.”
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