F. Community Cooperation

Many environmental activities at Charlestown are shared with local communities. Through Tom Moore of the Charlestown television station and Mel Tansill of Erickson Management, there is close cooperation and sharing of news stories with local stations and newspapers. Reforestation work on campus is done in conjunction with Baltimore County and Jim Himel of the Catonsville Canopy Tree Project. Adjacent neighborhoods are invited to participate in REUSE through the quarterly Treasure Sales, as well as other special activities. Charlestown works with the Patapsco Heritage Greenway in taking care of the campus portion of the East Branch of Herbert Run and the elimination of invasive plants. After the unrest in West Baltimore in April 2015, a group of Charlestown residents has worked environmentally with the Sandtown-Winchester community in improving neighorborhood beautification, education efforts, voter registration, and redevelopment of an urban farm. Resident George Brenneman of Charlestown shares his locally produced narrated videos of the area streams, American Indian history, and other subjects with schools and other community organizations.

Charlestown residents interact with local colleges and universities in both providing and receiving advanced education in environmental and other topics. Resident volunteers work with local elementary schools in providing tutoring, classroom assistance, and nature walks. Resident Pat Kasuda provides local interface with Rotary International in book recycling drives and other community activities. This list is almost endless, since volunteerism is a basic part of Charlestown, not only in environmental activities, but also in other aspects of community cooperation.