Project Highlight: Empowering Communities

Funded by the Chesapeake Bay Trust, the Empowering Communities project works to identify the barriers preventing overburdened communities in the Chesapeake Bay watershed from engaging in environmental stewardship and evaluate actionable solutions to those barriers. Building on prior research by project partner OpinionWorks, this study uses questionnaires and interviews to gather local insights on practical solutions to a variety of barriers across different stewardship practices. We plan to use these insights to co-develop a targeted, community-led project that directly addresses a local barrier. Ultimately, we hope that our findings expand understanding of stewardship challenges in overburdened communities and equip environmental groups across the region with the information needed to better focus their resources and outreach.