December 15th, 2021 by WCBC Radio

As 2021 draws to a close, members of the Chesapeake Executive Council gathered today in Richmond, Virginia to review the many successes of the Chesapeake Bay Program over the past year, while providing transparency about the challenges that lie ahead.

 

Established 38 years ago, the Chesapeake Executive Council is responsible for guiding the policy agenda and  conservation and restoration goals for the Chesapeake Bay Program, a regional watershed partnership. Members include the governors of Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia, the mayor of the District of Columbia, the chair of the tri-state legislative Chesapeake Bay Commission and the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on behalf of the federal government.

 

At the meeting, Vernice Miller-Travis, executive vice-president of environment and sustainability with The Metropolitan Group, provided details on one of the partnership’s major accomplishments of the past year—the release of the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Justice Implementation Plan Strategy. This Implementation Plan is the direct result of the historic Statement in Support of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Justice signed by the Executive Council at their August 2020 meeting. Immediately following the August 2020 meeting, an Action Team was formed to draft the Implementation Plan.