The countdown is on with less than a month until the highly anticipated 2025 Maryland General Assembly Legislative Session begins! The Maryland Municipal League and the City of Annapolis invite you to join us on January 8, 2025, for our Legislative Opening Day Reception, the ultimate legislative launch event in Annapolis. Don’t miss the excitement - mark your calendar and join us at the historic Governor Calvert House, 58 State Circle, Annapolis, from 6 to 8 p.m on January 8. 

The countdown is on with just a little over a month until the highly anticipated 2025 Maryland General Assembly Legislative Session begins! The Maryland Municipal League and the City of Annapolis invite you to join us on January 8, 2025, for our Legislative Opening Day Reception, the ultimate legislative launch event in Annapolis.

With over 1,000 attendees at last year’s reception, this is a great opportunity to be part of one of the most exciting and important legislative networking events of the year. Don’t miss the excitement - mark your calendar and join us at the historic Governor Calvert House, 58 State Circle, Annapolis, from 6 to 8 p.m on January 8.

U.S. House and Senate committees recently introduced a bicameral agreement to reauthorize the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA). Although the proposed bill includes some positive policy changes, several provisions raise concerns about reducing local flexibility and stakeholder involvement. Key issues include redesignation of local workforce development areas which may reduce local accountability and slow innovation by enabling single-area designations in many states. There have also been several One-Size-Fits-All mandates. These Federal mandates on training and work-experience requirements for youth could negatively impact underserved populations. There has also been an increased governor's set-aside for critical industries fund expanding state-level set-asides to 25% could limit resources for local implementation.

Advocacy efforts, including letters from the National League of Cities (NLC), U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM), and National Association of Counties (NACo), continue to push for greater flexibility, though movement on local redesignation provisions remains unlikely. Members are encouraged to engage Congress and share concerns here.

The Coalition for Green Capital (CGC) invites qualifying cities, towns, counties, and tribes, and their not-for-profit partner organizations to work with CGC to develop and finance clean energy projects.

Funding is available for project development related to clean energy and greenhouse gas emissions reduction. The Coalition for Green Capital (CGC) is affiliating with Local Governments for Sustainability (Iclei.org) to roll out this funding solution. The Maryland Clean Energy Center (MCEC) will be working to set up a revolving loan fund to assist municipality's with technical support to obtain and cover the investment related to the delay in benefitting from direct or elective pay tax credits.

Hosted by the Maryland Forestry Foundation, the next installment of the Forestry Policy Third Thursday virtual webinars series will be held December 19, 1 - 2 p.m.

The December webinar is focused on Conservation by Design in Land Use Planning which is a specific strategy to implement the land discussed in the last webinar. JOIN US!

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The Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) will co-host a webinar called "The Status of Recycling in Maryland" with the Maryland Recycling Network (MRN). The target audience is both local and State elected officials.

More details are below. Email Gabrielle Leach with questions or to RSVP. 

Program Description:​ The Maryland Smart Energy Communities (MSEC) FY25 programs are designed to support local governments, state agencies, non-profit organizations, educational institutions, and communities as they engage in sustainable, long-term, clean energy policies and projects that lead to reduced energy usage and greenhouse gas emissions, increased cost savings, and robust clean energy and economic development.

Program Purpose: ​The MSEC FY25 program provides a comprehensive suite of programs that extend beyond government operations to include opportunities for communities as a whole.  This offering provides an opportunity to fund community-wide visions of how clean energy and related technologies can scale up to a community level.  The two core programs within the MSEC portfolio are designed to foster overall community planning that involves the setting of climate and energy goals, decarbonizing economies, and promoting diversity and environmental justice.

The National Civic League is now accepting applications for the 2025 All-America City Award. The theme for 2025 is “Strengthening Environmental Sustainability through Inclusive Community Engagement.” The League is seeking communities that actively engage residents, businesses, and government stakeholders in initiatives to promote environmental sustainability and strengthen community resilience.

Apply to join the nine communities from Maryland that have won the All-America City Award! You can view the full list of past recipients here. 

The Maryland Municipal League’s annual State of the Municipality event on December 5 is now open to the public, but spots are limited!

Attendees can expect a thorough overview of Maryland's fiscal health and insight into how local government action is an important part of improving Maryland’s economic strength. Don’t miss this exclusive chance to connect with other leaders, stakeholders, and community supporters dedicated to Maryland’s growth!

Graduates of the Academy for Excellence in Local Governance can take Academy Graduate classes as they are offered.  Our next iteration will be offered on Friday, January 31, 2025 at the Local Government Insurance Trust (LGIT) headquarters in Hanover, MD from 9:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.  

The topic is:  Managing the Strategic Cybersecurity Challenge and the instructor is Associate Professor Charlie Harry from the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland.  Even if you are not an IT expert or in charge of your technical or policy changes, the class will be taught so that whatever you do for your municipality or county, you will benefit from this understanding and be able to return to your workplace with new knowledge and a framework to think about with your team.  Please see the following details:

Cybersecurity Grad Class Session Description
Graduate Class Enrollment Registration Form

You must be a graduate of the Academy for Excellence in Local Governance to participate in this course. Please send in your enrollment form and payment of $125, which includes materials and lunch, as soon as possible. Attendance is limited.

For additional information, contact Academy Registrar Elizabeth Hinson at [email protected].

Apply now for the Youth and Community Violence Prevention Action Teams (VPAT) program. Through this funding and technical assistance opportunity, NACCHO will provide up to $50,000 each for a maximum of 6 awardee teams. The National Association of County Health Officials (NACCHO), The National League of Cities (NLC), and other partners will provide technical assistance.

This funding opportunity is open to jurisdictions with high rates of youth and community violence – particularly firearm homicide – disproportionately affecting communities of color, looking to support multisector violence prevention efforts by forming Youth and Community Violence Prevention Action Teams.

The Fall edition of the National Civic Review focuses on strengthening democracy, and addressing this challenge through various approaches. It explores scaling and spreading effective local practices, enhancing inclusivity and participation, and tackling issues related to community health and public safety.

This edition was made possible with the support of The Kettering Foundation.

The online edition of the Review is now open access. You can read it here.

Nominations are now open for the 2025 Maryland Sustainable Growth Awards. The Maryland Department of Planning and the Sustainable Growth Subcabinet invite all nominations for individuals, businesses, organizations, and local governments throughout Maryland that advance sustainable growth policies and practices. Nominations are considered for applications that support a balanced approach to land use and planning across at least three of the #SustainableGrowth Policy and Planning Principles: Land, Transportation, Housing, Economy, Equity, Resilience, Place, and Ecology.

The online nomination form and details can be found here.

The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) has opened its next $1.5 billion funding round for the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) program. The program provides planning and capital/construction funding for a wide variety of multimodal transportation projects and local governments are directly eligible to apply. This is a unique funding round as USDOT has indicated they will reserve a portion of the $1.5 billion funding for projects that received a highly recommended score from last year. It is unknown at this time how much will be made available for “new” projects in this round. “New” project submissions are due January 30, 2025.

The Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) has developed resources to support locals with the RAISE program. Last year, they hosted a recorded webinar on the RAISE program (available here) and developed a PowerPoint on the RAISE program.

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has announced the next round of Promoting Resilient Operations for Transformative, Efficient and Cost-Saving Transportation (PROTECT) discretionary grant funding. The PROTECT Discretionary program provides funding to strengthen surface transportation to be more resilient to natural hazards, including climate change, sea level rise, heat waves, flooding, extreme weather, and other natural disasters through support of planning activities, resilience improvements, evacuation routes, and at-risk coastal infrastructure. There are four general categories of grant awards from the PROTECT program. There is a $100,000 minimum for planning grants. There is a $500,000 minimum for construction grants. Last round, planning awards ranged from $142,000 - $5.3 million and $750,000 - $60 million for construction. At least 25% of the funding must be used for projects in rural areas, at least 2% of the funding must go to Tribal area projects, and no more than 25% of total funding may be used for Intercity Rail projects. 

Eligible Facilities: Planning and resiliency grants may be awarded to support the following facilities:

The obligation deadline for municipalities receiving SLFRF funding is December 31, 2024.  Funds not obligated by the deadline will not be available to benefit your community and will need to be returned to the U.S. Treasury.

If your town is struggling to expend SLFRF funds or with the compliance process, we encourage you to contact the Department of Budget and Management’s Municipal Technical Assistance Program (MTAP). Given the impending December 31 deadline, MTAP has moved its Office Hours to every Tuesday, now through December 17, to increase the number of opportunities to discuss the obligation deadline. Please see below for the Office Hours meeting link and call in number. You can use the same meeting link each Tuesday.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Mid-Atlantic Region has announced the availability of $40 million in subgrants for communities through the Environmental Justice Thriving Communities Grantmaking program.

Announced by EPA in December 2023, this program includes 11 Grantmakers, such as the Green and Healthy Homes Initiative (GHHI), designated to operate in the Mid-Atlantic Region (Region 3), which includes Maryland. This initiative was established under the Inflation Reduction Act’s Environmental and Climate Justice Program, collaborating with the Technical Assistance Centers for Environmental Justice Thriving Communities (TCTAC), which is part of the federal government's Investing in America Agenda. Applicants in the Mid-Atlantic territory can now seek subgrants ranging from $150,000 to $350,000 for various environmental projects with one- or two-year terms.

The Maryland 250 Commission is offering $500 mini-grants to municipalities on a rolling basis. This is a great opportunity to help host meetings and events in your communities associated with civic engagement - which many of you all are already doing.

"The MD Two Fifty Commission is offering $500 grants to fund the launch of short-term (generally not more than 3-months) free educational programs offered by counties and municipalities for residents to learn how their local government works, get to know their local elected and staff officials, and learn about opportunities for citizen engagement."

These grants are accepted on a rolling deadline and will be reviewed starting this week. No applications have been received from Prince George's County, so please consider applying.

More information here: Grants & Applications | MD Two Fifty (maryland.gov).