Mary L. Harvey, Director
Drumcastle Center
6401 York Road, 2nd Floor
Baltimore, Maryland 21212
410-887-3317; Fax: 410-887-5696
What We Do
The Office of Community Conservation (OCC) is a highly responsive, interactive agency that has a fundamental mission to strengthen, enhance and stabilize the county’s older, established communities. These older communities in the County, where a significant majority of the County's residents live, were officially designated Community Conservation Areas in the 1989-2000 Master Plan, published in 1990. Find a map of Community Conservation areas.
A major focus of the agency’s work can be described as community development, or community revitalization. Both terms involve managing or coordinating a variety of projects and interventions that strengthen a given community’s physical assets and social well-being. The work of community development requires that we work closely with a variety of partners from government, the private sector, the non-profit sector and the citizenry.
The Office of Community Conservation may lead or help coordinate large- or smaller-scale planning efforts that produce recommendations on how a given community can improve itself, or respond to challenging trends. Such a planning process may establish consensus – within both the government and the community – for projects large and small that involve the investment of capital dollars. The recently built community centers in Randallstown and Dundalk are examples of projects that grew from planning efforts coordinated by the OCC. Additional projects include streetscapes in Towson and Dundalk; a gateway park in Randallstown and a host of new housing developments.
The agency places a very high priority on empowering communities to take action on their own. This work involves helping communities strengthen their local governance and capacity to do meaningful work. It may be that a community needs to establish a community association or strengthen the one that exists, or set up a formal Community Development Corporation that can raise funds and manage of portfolio of improvement projects.
HUD and Maryland Funding Sources
The Office of Community Conservation administers vital funding that comes to the county in the form of annual “block grants” from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Specifically, these funding streams come from the Community Development Block Grant Program ($4.2 million in Fiscal Year 2010); the HOME Investment Partnerships Program ($2.7 million in Fiscal Year 2010); and the Stewart B. McKinney Emergency Shelter Grant Program (ESG) ($185,000 in Fiscal Year 2010). In addition, OCC administers funding from the federal Supportive Housing Program.
OCC also administers: funding from the federal Supportive Housing Program; and funding from the State of Maryland that supports Transitional Housing Services and Women’s Homelessness Services.
How We Use HUD Funding, and State Funding
Most of the funding listed above is, by design, allocated to benefit low- and moderate-income households and individuals through various activities carried out by public agencies and non-profit organizations. Activities include: housing rehabilitation, home ownership assistance, drug and alcohol counseling, fair housing, education and counseling services to the homeless and people who are considered "at-risk," capital improvements for community-based facilities and public infrastructure, and programs that benefit the disabled.
Staff
The office is staffed by 31 employees. A staff directory is provided as part of this web site for ease in contacting our agency.
Revised June 30, 2010
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