City of Frostburg Receives Prestigious Sustainable Maryland Certified Award at Maryland Municipal League Conference

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 18, 2023

Contact: Mike Hunninghake, Director, Sustainable Maryland, 301-405-7956, mikeh75@umd.edu

City of Frostburg Receives Prestigious Sustainable Maryland Certified Award at Maryland Municipal League Conference

College Park, MD (October 18, 2023) – The Environmental Finance Center at the University of Maryland announced that the City of Frostburg was one of 16 Maryland municipalities honored at the Sustainable Maryland Awards Ceremony at the Maryland Municipal League’s annual Fall Conference this week. The City was recertified at the Bronze level.

The Sustainable Maryland program provides support and guidance to municipalities looking for cost-effective and strategic ways to protect their natural assets and revitalize their communities. Using best practices in resource areas like water, energy, planning, health, food, and economy, a municipality earns points toward sustainability certification.
 

Highlights of Frostburg’s accomplishments include:

• Brownsville Public Art Project: Plans are well underway for a new sculptural public art installation to highlight Brownsville, a community of freed Black people founded by two women, Tamar Brown and Elizabeth Jackson, who lived where Frostburg State University’s campus is today. The Brownsville Public Art Advisory Board is led by representatives of FrostburgFirst and The Brownsville Project, City staff, the Frostburg Museum, NAACP Allegany County Branch 7007, and the Frostburg Historic District.
   
• The City's Parks and Recreation department, in collaboration with the Allegany County Disc Golf Club, installed a disc golf course at the newly renovated Hoffman Park, the first public disc golf course in Allegany County! 

"The City of Frostburg is proud to be awarded Sustainable Maryland certification for the third time since 2017,” said Mayor W. Robert Flanigan. “Our Green Team is composed of passionate and sustainability-minded individuals whose hard work and community partnerships have made this certification possible. We are appreciative to the Sustainable Maryland program for highlighting our community's accomplishments and look forward to celebrating these continued efforts in the next three-year certification period."

According to Mike Hunninghake, Director of the Sustainable Maryland program, “This year’s class of Sustainable Maryland Certified awardees represents a broad cross-section of the state, from rural to urban, small towns to large cities, from western Maryland to the Eastern Shore. These municipalities are united in their mutual commitment to put sustainability at the forefront of their municipal agendas. We’re pleased to highlight their achievements and look forward to supporting their future efforts.”

For detailed information about Frostburg’s sustainability initiatives, please contact Bethany Fife, Director of Community Development, bfife@frostburgcity.org, 301-697-6129

Sustainable Maryland Certification: To achieve certification, municipalities are required to form a Green Team comprised of local residents, community leaders, municipal staff and officials; complete a variety sustainability-related Actions worth a total of at least 150 points for Bronze level certification, or 400 points for Silver level certification, and submit the appropriate documentation as evidence that the Sustainable Maryland Certified requirements have been satisfied. The Sustainable Maryland Action Menu can be seen here: https://sustainablemaryland.com/certification/actions

The complete list of 2023 newly certified (denoted by *) and re-certified communities includes:

• Bel Air (first certified in 2014, re-certified in 2017, 2020, and 2023)
• Berwyn Heights (first certified in 2014, re-certified in 2017, 2020, and 2023)
• Boonsboro (first certified in 2014, re-certified in 2017, 2020, and 2023)
• *Charlestown (NEW)
• Chesapeake Beach (first certified in 2014, re-certified in 2017, 2020, and 2023)
• Chestertown (first certified in 2014, re-certified in 2017, 2020, and 2023)
• Frostburg (first certified in 2017, re-certified in 2020, and 2023)
• Greenbelt (first certified in 2014, re-certified in 2017, 2020, and 2023)
• *Keedysville (NEW)
• *Kensington (NEW)
• Landover Hills (first certified in 2020, re-certified in 2023)
• Mount Airy (first certified in 2017, re-certified in 2020 and 2023)
• Riverdale Park (first certified in 2014, re-certified in 2017, 2020, and 2023)
• *Sykesville (NEW)
• University Park (first certified in 2014, re-certified in 2017, 2020, and 2023)
• *Washington Grove (NEW)

Our 2023 Sustainability Champion: This year’s Sustainability Champion is the City of Greenbelt which amassed an impressive 905 points on their application, more than any other community in 2023.

A full report on each certified community’s Actions can be viewed here: https://sustainablemaryland.com/certification/participating-communities

Sustainable Maryland Certified Municipalities as of 2023 (12th year of the program):

• Total Municipalities Sustainable Maryland Certified: 46 (29% of Maryland’s municipalities)

• Total Municipalities Sustainable Maryland Registered: 89 (57% of Maryland’s municipalities)

About Sustainable Maryland: Sustainable Maryland is an initiative of the Environmental Finance Center at the University of Maryland that is designed to support Maryland's 157 municipalities as they look for cost-effective and strategic ways to protect their natural assets and revitalize their communities. Using best practices in resource areas like water, energy, planning, health, food, and economy, a municipality can earn points toward sustainability certification. Sustainable Maryland offers a customizable menu of concrete actions, allowing communities to select initiatives that best fit their specific needs. This free and voluntary program, with the support of the Maryland Municipal League and the US Environmental Protection Agency helps communities choose a direction for their greening efforts; complete their chosen actions with help from program tools, trainings, expert guidance, and other resources; and be recognized statewide for their accomplishments. For more information about Sustainable Maryland: www.sustainablemaryland.com