Green Streets, Green Jobs, Green Towns (G3) Grant Program

About the G3 Grant Program

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Chesapeake Bay Trust Green Streets collaborative effort supports the implementation of the President’s Chesapeake Bay Protection and Restoration Executive Order. It serves as a key component of the Chesapeake Bay Green Street-Green Jobs-Green Towns (G3) Initiative which supports local, grassroots-level greening efforts by towns and communities in urbanized watersheds that want to reduce stormwater run-off through creation of “green streets", increase urban green spaces, and the reduce the amount of impervious surfaces.  

The Green Street-Green Jobs-Green Towns (G3) Grant Program, funded by EPA Region 3 and the Chesapeake Bay Trust , with support from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources , provides support for urban green stormwater infrastructure projects. The goal of the G3 Grant Program is to help communities implement sustainability plans that reduce stormwater runoff, increase the number and amount of green spaces in urban areas, improve local water quality, and enhance a community's quality of life.

The G3 Grant Program supports green stormwater infrastructure based projects including:

• design and implementation projects that enhance green spaces in communities, including implementing urban green stormwater practices, increasing urban green spaces, and replacing impervious surfaces with more permeable materials (e.g., permeable pavements).  One type of project that can include all three of these practices and increase a community’s sustainability is the “green street”;
• white papers on innovative ideas for green infrastructure; and,
• green street charrettes for a planning or visioning session with citizens, planners, developers and other key stakeholders to collaborate and development a plan, vision or design for a project. 

Since the initiation of the G3 Grant Program, the G3 Partnership has granted nearly $4.8 million in funding and leveraged over $9.2 million in green street design, construction, and research.  As a result of the G3 Grant Program, the G3 Partnership has grown and continues to grow.  G3 grantees become G3 partners and champions, helping to demonstrate and transfer green street and green stormwater infrastructure practices to other interested communities. Several communities also report an increase in their ability to attract additional funding support as a result of the grants and the support of the G3 Initiative.

Who Can Apply? 

All communities in Maryland, and throughout the Chesapeake Bay watershed portions of Delaware, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia, and the District of Columbia are eligible to apply for the G3 Grant Program.  This program is open to local governments such as municipalities, non-profit organizations, neighborhood/community associations, and other non-profit entities.  The scope of the grants include green stormwater infrastructure projects, such as green streets, within the context of a current or ultimate strategy in which “green” components are added to retrofit projects as a matter of standard practice.  The program is intended to support and foster market incentives for green infrastructure by building local and county-level capacity to implement innovative, cost-effective projects.

G3 Grant Success

• The G3 Partnership has granted over $10 million in funding and leveraged over $16 million for G3 design, construction, and research projects. 
• 172 G3 Grants have been awarded to small to mid-sized communities throughout the Mid-Atlantic region (Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia).
• In 2014, recognizing the success of the program to implement real green solutions, the State of Maryland provided nearly $3 million in support of the G3 Grants Program.   
• Communities have found that through the integration of green streets and green stormwater infrastructure practices they are creating more sustainable and resilient communities.
• Several G3 case studies have been completed to showcase the successful implementation of five G3 Grant Program funded green street and green stormwater infrastructure projects.