Everyone appreciates a strong partnership, especially when it connects the right people, the right mission, and clear benefits for Talbot County. The collaboration between Building African American Minds and Talbot Thrive is a great example, combining BAAM’s efforts with local children and families and Talbot Thrive’s emphasis on safe, healthy transportation.
The partnership received a major boost with a $274,140 grant from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources’ Greenspace Equity Program. Pending final approval by the Maryland Board of Public Works, the funding will help create the BAAM Campus Annex Community Garden and Safety Town next to Moton Park in Easton.
The expanded campus will include raised garden beds, pollinator gardens, benches, landscaping, and outdoor learning areas. At its center will be a permanent traffic garden, a scaled-down network of streets, intersections, signs, and crosswalks where children can safely practice riding bicycles and scooters away from motor vehicles. It will be the first permanent facility of its kind on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.
In our conversation, BAAM Executive Director Dina Daly and Talbot Thrive Executive Director Heather Grant explain how the idea grew from Talbot Thrive’s popular Rolling Rodeo program and BAAM’s broader commitment to giving children safe places to learn and grow. More importantly, they show what can happen when two local organizations stop thinking only about their own programs and begin building something together for the entire community.
This video is approximately three minutes in length. For information about BAAM please go here. For information about Talbot Thrive go here.
