Chesapeake Bay Program Goal Implementation Team (GIT) Funding Program - Scope #5 - Local Government Technical Assistance Inventory and Gap Analysis

Overview

Chesapeake Bay Program Goal Implementation Team (GIT) Funding Program

The Chesapeake Bay Trust has been designated to receive federal funds from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as part of the Chesapeake Bay Program Goal Implementation Team Funding Program. The work funded by this initiative advances outcomes identified in the 2014 Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement. Each year, certain outcomes are chosen by the Chesapeake Bay Program as top priorities to address, and these stretch across all Goal Implementation Teams (GIT) and workgroups.

The Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement contains five themes consisting of 10 goals that will advance the restoration and protection of the Bay watershed. These goals are interrelated: improvements in water quality can mean healthier fish and shellfish; the conservation of land can mean more habitat for wildlife; and a boost in environmental literacy can mean a rise in stewards of the Bay’s resources. Our environment is a system, and these goals will support the health of the public and of the watershed as a whole. Each goal is linked to a set of outcomes, or time-bound and measurable targets that will directly contribute to its achievement. Each outcome has a Management Strategy and Logic & Action Plan which offer insight into how the partnership will achieve each outcome, as well as how we will monitor, assess, and report progress toward abundant life, clean water, engaged communities, conserved lands, and climate change resilience.

GIT 6 – Enhance Partnering, Leadership, and Management – Scope # 5

The goal of the Enhance Partnering, Leadership, and Management GIT is to improve the leadership and management of the Chesapeake Bay Program and assist watershed partners and stakeholders in building their capacity to become environmental leaders in their community. To learn more about the Enhance Partnering, Leadership, and Management GIT visit their website at https://www.chesapeakebay.net/who/group/enhancing-partnering-leadership-and-management-goalimplementation-team. Within GIT 6, the Local Leadership outcome, outlined in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement, is to “continually increase the knowledge and capacity of local officials on issues related to water resources and in the implementation of economic and policy incentives that will support local conservation actions.” To learn more about Local Leadership visit their website at https://www.chesapeakebay.net/who/group/local-leadership-workgroup.

Scope #5 - Local Government Technical Assistance Inventory and Gap Analysis

Purpose and Outcome of Scope #5: This Scope will identify, assess, and inventory current local government assistance programs across the Chesapeake Bay region, conduct a gap analysis of the identified programs, and create recommendations to expand the programs to fill those gaps. This project supports a need to expand local government technical assistance programs (e.g. The Delaware Grant Assistance Program, and West Virginia’s Region 8 and 9 Planning and Development Councils) that was identified by the Local Government Advisory Committee’s (LGAC) 2023 Annual Recommendations to the Chesapeake Bay Program Executive Council. The overarching goal of this project is to provide detailed information on existing local government technical assistance programs, as well as the current gaps in the system, to empower decision makers at state and federal levels to more effectively focus limited resources to fill the gaps.

Key Tasks of Scope #5:

* Identify and inventory existing local government technical assistance programs that align with the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement outcomes.
* Compile standardized information about each technical assistance program (geographic scope, funding source, types of local governments served, type of services offered, costs, and key watershed agreement outcomes the technical assistance addresses).
* Define and analyze gaps (regions, types of local governments, types of services offered, watershed agreement outcomes covered) in existing technical assistance programs.
* Recommend approach to fill gaps in technical assistance to local governments to drive increased implementation towards meeting watershed agreement outcomes.

Eligibility

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