Press Release

What

The Maryland Commission on Environmental Justice and Sustainable Communities will convene a one-day symposium to kick off a comprehensive state effort to improve planning, development, and public health assessments to reach sustainability goals. The symposium will outline Maryland’s environmental justice challenges and the work of the Maryland Commission on Environmental Justice and Sustainable Communities (CEJSC). Case studies will evaluate how zoning and land use processes address environmental justice and examine the public health effects of planning and development. Participants will identify tools to help incorporate these issues into the planning and permitting process.

Who

  • Speakers: Director, U.S. EPA Office of Environmental Justice, Charles Lee (keynote address)
  • CEJSC Commission Chairman Scot Spencer
  • CEJSC Vice-Chair Andrew Fellows
  • CEJSC Vice-Chair Vernice Miller-Travis
  • MDE Secretary Shari Wilson
  • MDOT Secretary Beverley Swaim-Staley
  • DHMH Deputy Secretary Frances B. Phillips, RN, MHA
  • MDP Deputy Secretary Matthew Powell

Approximately 100-150 planners, developers, community groups, environmental scientists and activists, and public health professionals are expected to attend, as well as key officials from Maryland Departments of Planning, Housing and Community Development, and Health and Mental Hygiene.

When

Saturday, October 3, 2009 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Remarks and Keynote Address from 10-11:30am;
Community Case Studies and Afternoon Breakout Sessions to follow

Where

Morgan State University, William Donald Schaefer Engineering Building (Building 43).
For directions visit
http://www.morgan.edu/About_MSU/Visit_Morgan/Campus_Map.html.

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