www.greening4life.org

www.pollutantsfreealliances.org

 

     

8787 Branch Avenue, Suite 17   •     Clinton, MD  20735
btbcoalition@gmail.com

  

Brandywine | TB, Southern Region
Neighborhood Coalition

BTB Coalition



www.btbcoalition.org

Your Civic Voice as an alliance of South County Citizens,
Civic, HOA’s & Neighborhood Association

Having been organized in the Brandwine Community since the late 1950's the Danville Floral Park Road Citizens Association d/b/a Brandywine |TB Southern Region Neighborhood Coalition herein after referred to as the BTB Coalition is an alliance of civic, citizens, homeowner, community associations and interested individuals located throughout Prince George’s Councilmatic Districts 6, 7, 8 and 9. We provide information and facilitate networking among civic groups, community activists and individuals concerned about the commonwealth of Prince Georgians in general in the Southern
part of the County. We are especially interested in any issues that affect our
quality of life and property values.

The organizations Communities Programs seeks to provide technical assistance on the use of various tools to help the community achieve their goals for growth; to overcome barriers and move toward smarter, more sustainable growth. The organization seeks to attain an increase in the community’s capacity to successfully implement smart growth and sustainable approaches that protect the environment, improve public health, create jobs, expand economic opportunity, and improve overall quality of life.

The organizations works is to build active influential communities based on justice, equality and mutual respect as a first amendment advocate for the betterment of community that aims to influence public policy and resource allocation of decisions within the political, economic, and social systems.


Mission Statement and Core Values
Our mission is to create and maintain an environment where business and community will prosper by supporting all projects and activities which will contribute to the positive growth and development of Prince George’s County, Brandywine and it’s community.

The BTB Coalitions’ organizational mission is to build active influential communities based on justice, equality and mutual respect as a first amendment advocate for the betterment of community that aims to influence public policy and resource allocation of decisions within the political, economic, and social systems. The Coalitions’ Purpose Coalition building, collaborative problem solving solutions, and community economies are some of the most effective interventions for social change available to us today.

The BTB Coalitions' partnerships with many sectors of a community which gather together collaboratively to solve the community’s problems and guide the community’s future. “When they are driven by citizen-identified issues, citizens become involved in all steps of the problem solving process”. The BTB Coalition encourages the informed and active participation of citizens in government, works to increase understanding of major public policy issues, political processes, and influences public policy through education and advocacy. Vision, Beliefs and Intentions The goal of the BTB Coalition is to empower citizens to shape better communities.

The BTB Coalition is a membership organization, which:

• acts to achieve solutions in the public interest on key
community issues at all levels of government.

• builds citizen participation in the democratic process.

• engages communities in promoting positive solutions to
public policy issues through education and advocacy

We Believe In

• respect for individuals.
• the value of diversity
• the empowerment of the grassroots within all communities
  • the power of collective decision making for the common good of all.

We will:
• act with trust, integrity and professionalism. • operate in an open and effective
manner to meet the needs of those we serve, both members and the public.
• take the initiative in seeking diversity in membership
• acknowledge our heritage as we seek our path to the future.

Core Values:
• We believe that grassroots initiatives and consensus building are the strengths of our organization.

Executive Community Citizens Board
This executive committee members lend their expertise and influence representing the "Citizens" of the Community to pursue the coalition’s mission within the community.
Executive Community Citizen’s Board, hereafter the “ECCB”.

This is a permanent committee of the BTB. The ECCB consists of not more than 12 members representative of the Citizen’s of the Vicinity, one representative of Aggregate Industries, Inc., a non-voting member.

The Committee has Administrative Chair a Citizen of the vicinity and a Trustee of the BRANDYWINE / TB, SOUTHERN REGION NEIGHBORHOOD COALITION, Inc.

The Committee has three members of the church community representative the Pastors as follows a citizen’s of the vicinity representative of the Apostolic Faith Church of the Jesus Christ the Lord Incorporated, a citizen of the vicinity representative of the Asbury United Methodist Church, a citizen of the vicinity representative of the Union Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church.

The additional members of the ECCB committee include at least one (1) community Trucker and the additional members to be of the citizen’s of the Vicinity and of the community residents within a two (2) mile radius and boundaries as mandated all being a members of the Councilmatic 6, 7, and/or 8.

About Us
The Executive Community Citizen’s Board (ECCB) was formed in 2002 as an extension to the vision of the CCB representative of the "citizens". Recognizing a need to organize our community amidst our commercial, environmental and residential neighborhoods, the CCB was established now the ECCB.

Through community organizing we continue in our commitment towards improving the quality of life, increasing neighborhood value; consequently making our community a safer more inviting place to visit, live, shop and worship.

We also become a positive contributor and auxiliary partner in the economic and social recovery and revitalization in the Brandywine Community.

Mission
The mission of the Executive Community Citizen’s Board (ECCB) is;

                                "Building a Community...Through the building up of a Community".

To exercise all applicable powers, which where granted in January 2002, in furtherance of the
our stated purpose.

The ECCB has established a scholarship criteria and is responsible for the selection of its recipients.
Our state and local community support our grassroots organizing; pursue local policies and programs to meet the needs of residents living in Brandywine and surrounding communities of the neighboring councilmatic districts being 6,7, and 8.


Vision

Through community organizing, individual and joint partnerships; the ECCB seeks to be a haven of hope, help, and a resource within the community, the South corridor and beyond in creating neighboring growth and long term viability.

Grassroots organizing takes many forms and there are many ways to describe these different forms facilitated by the board. For our purposes we will break our community organizing down into three general categories, which we have adopted.

HOME

     

 
MARYLAND FACES CIVIL RIGHTS COMPLAINT
AFTER APPROVING GAS PLANT
IN BLACK COMMUNITY

The plant would increase the air pollution in a county
already violating national air quality standards

CURRENT FEDERAL EPA/DOT INVESTIGATION
FILED ON MAY 11, 2016  | Update Meeting June 18, 2016

read more>>

Washington, D.C. — The state of Maryland is facing a federal civil rights
complaint, filed by Earthjustice, on behalf of residents in the majority
black community of Brandywine, Md., after the state approved a
permit for a gas-fired power plant that would have disproportionate
pollution impacts on the basis of race. In fact, the communities in closest
proximity to all Maryland’s 13 power plants are disproportionately black.

Maryland is 30 percent black, but the percentage of the population
within 10 miles of a large fossil-fuel-fired power plant averages
36 percent African American. Prince George’s County is 65 percent black
and has four power plants that are operating or permitted.

Three large (>250 megawatts) fossil fuel-fired power plants are located
in or immediately outside of Brandywine, more than any other
community in the state. Five large fossil fuel-fired power plants are
located within thirteen miles of Brandywine, a concentration not
repeated anywhere else in the state. Brandywine is home to 23 percent
of the large fossil fuel-fired power plants in the state (3 out of 13),
even though it has only .17 percent of the land area of the state
(21 square miles out of 12407), and .12 percent of the population of the state
(6719 people out of 5.773 million), according to 2010 U.S. Census data.



“NO” recommendations were provided by this counties
governing units, so no consideration was given as to the discriminatory disproportioned impacts when deciding this
case that would have given considerable weight to the results”.
“Severely” translation “we’re going to sacrifice
people by killing them for a greater public benefit."
PSC STATEMENT OF FINDINGS

See highlighted areas

IS THIS OKAY FOR BRANDYWINE, MD RESIDENTS?
The Public Service Commission (PSC) finds that the concentration of
pollution sources in Brandywine is “unfortunate” and notes that
“the negative impacts of the plant fall most severely on Brandywine
while the benefits are distributed across a much larger geographic
area”. A community that’s already overburdened by local pollution
sources having an unjustified disproportionate adverse impact.
The racially discriminatory impact of siting five large fossil fuel-fired
power plants in or near Brandywine continues a pattern that holds
throughout the state of Maryland. Across the entire state, power
plants are concentrated in counties with larger percentages of black
residents. Prince George's County, in which Brandywine is located,
will have both the highest number of large fossil fuel-fired power plants
(4) and the highest percentage of black residents. Clean Air Prince Georges.


Introduction to Title VI
of the Civil Rights Act of 1964

Download TitleVI_Complaint Overview


Get Involved!
Contribute to the movement for an environment we all share in.

Environmental Justice Commission
and the denial by the current administration

Brandywine Power Plan SMOG
Right behind the COSTCO, Brandywine Crossing
Unhealthy Air Quality
Final Earthworks infrared images of oil & gas emissions


Or check out the Prince George's County

"PEOPLE"S" Counsel deny TItleVI |Ej issue
because we "a" Black County... and the ONLY PERSON
to DEFEND us was Councilwomen Mary Lehman and
by the why she's no offense "WHITE".

(start at 1 min 48 secs)
Additionally the MD Commission on Ej CEJSC has not
done one piece of legislation in 21 years

Prince George's County
Prepared by: Prince George’s County Health Department
Community Health Needs Assessment


Fumes Across the Fence-Line
The Health Impacts of Air Pollution from Oil & Gas
Facilities on African American Communities


Made way for the 3 Fossil Fuel Power Plants
Report of The Task Force to Study Energy Generation
in Prince George’s County Maryland General Assembly and the Prince George’s County Delegation
Delegate James | Susie Proctor & Delegate Aisha Braveboy

Elected Officials that made way for more
Impacts of Air Pollution from Oil & Gas

THE DEVALUATION OF ASSETS IN BLACK NEIGHBORHOODS
In the average U.S. metropolitan area, homes in
neighborhoods where the share of the population
is 50 percent black are valued at roughly half the price
as homes in neighborhoods with no black residents.

March 2019 - February 2023
Speakup for where you Live:
Become a Board Member

    

 

Join the BTB Coalition
Member Form

BTB Community Facebook Page
 
 

Voice Your Opinion.blogspot.com
...about community issues, environmental justice issues
 

 

Prince George's County Websites
Prince George’s County, Maryland Official Web Site
Prince George's County Legislative Branch
Prince George's County Board of Appeals
Prince George's County Calendars
Prince George's County Hearing Agendas
Prince George’s County – (State website)
Prince George’s County Public Schools
M-NCPPC Prince George’s County Planning Department
M-NCPPC Planning Board Weekly Agendas

M-NCPPC Subdivision and Development Review Committee (SDRC) meeting
M-NCPPC Prince George’s County Parks and Recreation
Prince George’s County Memorial Libraries
Prince George’s County Chamber of Commerce

CleanAirPrinceGeorge's.org Clean Air Prince George's Non-attainable ozone.

     

 

The BTB Coalition
Helping You Care For Your Community

Your community’s health and wellness needs better than anyone else can provide in your community other than you
and deserves you being involved caring about your community, believing in yourself. Be the voice of change in your community. You have the power to use your skills,
talents and abilities to make a difference. By focusing on family, community lending our collective voice to policies
that support our community’s vision, mission and strategic goals.
Caring for Your Community... and living on purpose in your community.

“[W]e all have the power to change our surroundings, we all have the power to tend to something overlooked, unlovely, or in need of repair in our neighborhoods, and we all have the power to make our place better.”

Community is meaningful
Outreach... & Engagement not by proxy

Build strategic relationships of equity, diversity, inclusion, community engagement, etc. those are all good, but they can also be irritating, misleading, and even harmful if not done right. Trickle-Down Community Engagement is an example of good-intention poorly executed. If we want marginalized communities to be engaged, we need to fund and support them directly to be engaged. Community Engagement cannot be the icing on the chocolate cake of equity and social justice. It is the chocolate!
 
“Have you noticed that everyone is getting paid to engage us communities of color except us communities of color? Sigh. Yes, I have noticed. I’ve been thinking a lot about this, and have come up with a term to describe it: Trickle-Down Community Engagement (TDCE). This is when we bypass the people who are most affected by issues, engage and fund larger organizations to tackle these issues, and hope that miraculously the people most affected will help out in the effort, usually for free.”(ref: January 20, 2015 Are you or your org guilty of Trickle-Down Community Engagement?)
 
We equate outreach with community engagement. The BTB Coalition ongoing effort to clarify the language we use about these matters, we’d like to differentiate between these two terms. For us, the simplest distinction is that outreach is (at best) done “for,” community engagement is done “with.
 
Community engagement is rooted in relationship building. The “what” that is the art grows out of the relationship, factoring in the interests and needs of the community.
 
 Outreach can be more accurately equated with audience engagement-the effort to deepen relationships with current stakeholders and to extend an organization’s reach.
 
Audience engagement is, properly, self-focused and somewhat more immediately concerned with butts-in-seats/eyes-on-walls results. (Audience development is, of course most immediately concerned with those current issues.)
 
For the BTB Coalition understanding distinctions between outreach (and audience engagement) and community engagement is helpful in that it supports a broader palette of potential in the service of both organizational sustainability and community service.
 
The BTB Coalition Diversity Engagement and Community Outreach seeks to promote a community climate and culture that values diversity in all its forms through inclusive dialogues, interpersonal experiences, and Intercultural appreciation; in support of a thriving community climate and inclusive excellence.
 
Trickle-Down Community Engagement sucks and is insulting. The sector needs to stop only supporting major organizations and hope that magically the people disproportionately affected whom we don’t fund will join in. Or at the very least, we should stop whining about it when they don’t. We organizations led by marginalized communities are tired and irritated at excuses like “We can’t invest in you guys because you’re too small,” coupled with the constant requests for us to be involved. Don’t just give three drops of water to your rainbow carrots, wonder why they aren’t growing, and then whine about the lack of color in your salad.

 

 



   













     

•••••••••••••••••
BTB Coalition Community
Up Coming & Pass Events

Southern Area Aquatics
and Recreation Complex
Spring Summer 2020 Class Brochure

26MAR2019
Addressing the Council on
Title VI Civil Rights Act of 1964 for which
Prince George's County is the
"subject matter"

CitizenPolicyTCISeries16NOV19

District09 19MAR19
Deveopment Report

Brandywine Road Club
CB-33/CB-61

2018 League of Women Voter (LWV)
free Voters’ Guide to assist citizens in their decision-making process as they prepare for the 2018 gubernatorial primary election.


Climate Air Quality Community
Citizen Science Forum

June 23 , 2018 at 1PM to 2PM —
3pm to 5pm Voters Education Forum

Union Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church
6810 Floral Park Rd,
Brandywine, Maryland 20613

IT IS URGENT THAT WE COLLECT
DATA ON THE COMMUNITIES HEALTH

before the power plants come online for us to
access the pollutants effect on our health from the heavy industrial in Brandywine & Surrounding
Areas Air Quality from all ages especially our kids. Thriving Earth ExChange Air Monitoring Project–
Interpreting Local Air Quality Data to Support Pollution Monitoring Brandywine, MD


Community Engagement

Connecting with our Leadership
Local and State Legislative Discussion Panel

MGM Casino at National Harbor
http://www.fox5dc.com/news/maryland-news/tax-money-generated-by-the-mgm-national-harbor-casino-in-question

https://wtop.com/business-finance/2017/12/mgm-national-harbor-is-1-year-old-whats-the-competition-think/


Community Benefits Agreement between Prince Georges County and MGM (PDF)

MGM Oversight Committee Frequently Asked Question (PDF)

Brandywine Royal Farms

DSP-15012_Royal Farms

Brandywine
For Immediate Release:

Community Public Health Pollution Alert
Brandywine, MD | Environmental Awareness & Community
Health Summit with Leadership Neighborhoods United.


BTB Coalition Previous Events

Panda Wetlands Hearing (see notice)
June 2 , 2016
at Brandywine Volunteer Fire Department Firehall

Forum on Clean Air & Affordable Energy
June 9 , 2016
at Potomac Branch - Charles County Public Library from 5:30 - 8:00pm

Title VI Complaint Update & Next Steps
June 18 , 2016
, 10am - 11am at Brandywine Volunteer Fire Department Firehall
  
Forum on Clean Air & Affordable Energy
June 18 , 2016
, 11am - 2pm at Brandywine Volunteer Fire Department Firehall

BTB Coalition Community Meeting
July 28, 2016
, 6:30am - 8pm at Gwynn Park Middle School, 8000 Dyson Road, Brandywine, MD 20613

April 28, 2016, at at Gwynn Park Middle School, 8000 Dyson Road, Brandywine, MD 20613

We hosted Sierra Club and the University of Maryland.

On February 11, 2016 at Gwynn Park Middle School, 8000 Dyson Road, Brandywine, MD 20613
 

We hosted Dr. Sacoby Wilson, Assistant Professor, School of Public Health, at the University of Maryland-College Park, a national environmental justice expert, who will provide comments about environmental justice and health issues in Brandywine including cumulative impacts of pollution and an overview of a rapid health impact assessment (HIA) performed recently. He will also discussed ways to address environmental injustice in the community including equitable development, healthy zoning initiatives, revitalization, an the REDUCE Act.

FFW whom champions healthy food and clean water for all. We stand up to corporations that put profits before people, and advocate for a democracy that improves people’s lives and protects our environment.

Also, in attendance will be the Prince George's County Park & Planning, Commission South County Planners and Zoning
Rewrite Team.