Chesapeake Education Arts and Research Society
To the health of the our watershed!
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
CHESTORY
Chestory was founded in 1999 by Sara Leeland and the late Tom Wisner, Maryland’s first environmental educator who was often known as “the Bard of the Chesapeake”. CHESTORY’s purpose is to bring the artist in each of us to "express our role in the ongoing story of Chesapeake life and culture; and creating resources for all who want to bring their communities into deeper relationship to the Chesapeake river lands.” In January, 2010, CHESTORY was adopted by CHEARS to carry on Tom Wisner's legacy. In April, 2010, Tom Wisner passed away, leaving a wealth and variety of creative expressions of his love of the Chesapeake. His wish was that his gifts be shared widely and that other artists being encouraged as well.
CHEL
The Center for the Chesapeake Story: Chesapeake Environmental Literacy (CHEL) aims to foster a generation of people who are more connected with the environment by combing science and the arts in fun, informative ways. Workshops are customized and tailored upon request, and our website contains a variety of resources. Training workshops are also available for educators who are interested in what Environmental Literacy means to them. Click above to visit our website for more information.
Home Salons
Since its start in 2006, CHEARS has been involved in organizing community building and informational events through films, discussions and parties. Some of these are organized as potlucks with film or shared activities such as the annual Solstice party with a mindful walk and fire circle.
GCAN
Greenbelt Climate Action Network (GCAN)'s mission is to educate residents about climate change, how they can change their behavior and take political action.From September to June monthly meetings are held at the Greenbelt Community Center on the Second Wednesday of the month.
GFF
Establishment of a community-wide food forest in different areas of Greenbelt using permaculture strategies to promote healthy ecosystems, healthy food production, water capture and storage, building, and energy use.
A permaculture forest garden mimics the architecture and beneficial relationships of a natural forest. Food forests are not "natural" but are designed and managed ecosystems that are very rich in biodiversity and productivity. Project supported by the Chesapeake Bay Trust.
Greenbelt Forest Stewardship Project
Providing knowledge and care of our remnant woods through community forestry workshops and natural resource management. To find out more contact Erin Josephitis, Volunteer Maryland Coordinator, at [email protected] or (240) 542-2168.
The Green Man
The Green Man Festival in Greenbelt started in May of 2005. It has been held on Mother's Day Weekend for the last seven years.
The Green Man came to life in many cultures from the shadowy, forested world of early man. He made his way through the ages in folklore, songs, stone carvings in cathedrals and art in humble cottages. The Green Man is known to many as the Spirit of the Natural World, but takes on many different roles. Today, he is the unofficial voice for the environment.
This festival brings the Green Man into the present where he returns to remind us that while concern for our environment is important, it's only a beginning until followed with personal action. Visitors have a chance to speak with others with shared values, contribute some ideas, listen to the music, and learn what others are doing to help locally restore the Chesapeake Bay Watershed and globally, our Mother Earth.
HEYCO
Healthy Eco Yards Cooperative (HEYCO!)
A Hybrid—Consumer-Worker-Research Co-operative
Creating a New Greenbelt Co-op to Support Healthy Food for All Critters (humans and wildlife) in an Era of Climate Change. We want to create landscapes which are beautiful to live in, that provide wildlife habitat, provide a community food harvest, and which reduce in a measured way polluted run-off into our water ways!
HEYCO is a new hybrid-worker-consumer-research co-op that CHEARS non-profit is incubating. HEYCO has a Public Benefit Mission consistent with CHEARS mission. The mission is to promote the health of all life in the Watershed through implementation of Chesapeake Bay Program Best Management Practices (BMP) in residences, businesses and public lands in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. A HEYCO goal is to support community empowerment through landscape and promote community through fostering Community Food Growing Hubs.
Stone Soup
On Fall 2012, CHEARS sponsored the 8th Annual Harvest Festival in Greenbelt Center, that included music, arts and crafts, white elephants, fairy gardens and a visit to the Community Center site of one of the 3 Sisters Gardens, where we helped "put the garden to bed" for the winter.
Earth Squad
The Earth Squad is a co-learning tutoring and mentoring project that practices stewardship for the Three Sisters Gardens and Food Forest. In 2015 weekly sessions on Tuesdays and Wednesdays after school are being held at the Springhill Lake Recreation Center and in the Gardens.
Three Sisters Demonstration Gardens
On a per acre basis, urban runoff contributes twice the excess nutrient and toxic load to the Bay that agrcultural areas contribute. Aided by Permaculture principles a CHEARS strategic objective is to significantly reduce urban and suburban run off by changing our dominant monoculture lawn-based form of landscaping.
In 2010 CHEARS was awarded a $1500 grant from the Greenbelt Community Foundation for the Three Sisters Demonstration Garden project. The grant was matched by CHEARS funds and was used to hold educational workshops on Chesapeake Bay friendly home edible and native plant land care practices; and to support the purchase of fruit and nut trees and the establishing of demonstration gardens in each of the three major geographic areas of Greenbelt (center, east and west). CHEARS also hopes to do some fun raising with the gardens!!
CHEARS has established outdoor classroom gardens that are multi-generational, handicapped accessible. The gardens provide an opportunity for combining gardening with artistic expression and co-learning about sustainable landscaping. Urban runoff contributes unhealthy excess nutrient and toxic load to the Bay.
Urban and Rural Permaculture
CHEARS sponsors urban and rural Permaculture Design Certificate Courses. The 2010 and 2011 PDC courses were held at Wild Meadows Farm, an organic certified farm located in rural Bedford County PA near the Eastern Divide at the far end of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. The 2013 and 2014 courses focused on urban-suburban design in the DC metro area in partnership with Forest-ED. A major focus has been on participants developing designs for their own local areas.
Volunteering Partnership Project
Partnering with the City of Greenbelt Public Works, CHEARS hosted a Volunteer Maryland Americorp volunteer in 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015. In 2016 CHEARS will continue to support volunteering whereever possible.
The Volunteer Maryland project is designed to provide participants with hands-on experience in volunteer recruitment and co-ordination methods, as well as to give Maryland communities much needed volunteers for community service projects. Volunteer Maryland participants have helped organize and recruit volunteers for a number of important forest stewardship, storm water-run off mitigation, and Three Sisters Gardens and Food Forest activities.
Flows
Place Based Education and Research Project
Follow the water from a spring on Wild Meadows Farm near the Eastern Divide in Pennsylvania as it joins Bobs Creek, then observe its transformations as it joins successively Dunnings Creek, the Juniata River, the Susquehanna River, the Cheseapeake Bay, and finally the Atlantic Ocean. Activities also include the Chincoteague Bay, neighbor to the Chesapeake Bay, sharing the same Atlantic Ocean waters.
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
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Chesapeake Education Arts and Research Society
Board of directorsas of 03/11/2019
Carolyn Lambright-Davis
Robert Cahalan
Maggie Cahalan
Council for Opportunity in Education, Vice President, Research and Pell Institute Director,1025 Vermont Avenue, N.W., Suite 900, Washington, D.C. 20005-3516
Bill Davis
Mary Ellsworth
Marcia Freeman
Eugenia Kalnay
University of Maryland, College Park, MD