Summary
Masonville Cove Environmental Education Campus (MCEEC) opened in April 2009, offering environmental programs to the local communities and school groups. The MCEEC serves as a place to hold community meetings, as well as a place that allows the local community members to have access to the Patapsco River. Masonville Cove consists of 54 acres of land and 70 acres of water on the southern bank of the Patapsco River in Baltimore City, Maryland.
MCEEC is unique due to the partnership between many federal, state, and local entities including: Maryland Port Administration, Living Classrooms Foundation, Maryland Environmental Service, National Aquarium, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Each of these partners plays a vital role in assuring the success of Masonville Cove. The Maryland Port Administration owns the land and contracted Maryland Environmental Service to clean up the contaminants dating back to the Great Baltimore Fire in 1904. Over 60,000 tons of debris has been removed and the land has been capped. The soil is safe for a child to touch it 365 days a year. The National Aquarium developed the shoreline wetlands while the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have assisted with the wildlife management plans of the area. Lastly, Living Classrooms Foundation is responsible for the on-going environmental stewardship programming, serving over 3,000 students per year.
The environmental education programs are developed and implemented by Living Classrooms Foundation, a non-profit experiential education organization that has worked since 1985 to provide hands-on education, job training, and community service/development programs for students from diverse backgrounds. Masonville Cove Environmental Education Campus supports programs that use environmental projects as a delivery system to not only support required academic skills, but also positively impact the community while fostering environmental stewardship. Living Classrooms Foundation is leading programs in local community schools like School Leadership in Urban Runoff Reduction Project and Treasuring our Chesapeake Bay that focus on human impacts on waterways, in particular, runoff pollution and how it affects the downstream habitats like Masonville Cove, the Patapsco River, and the Chesapeake Bay. These programs take place onsite and throughout the community insuring that the local youth understand their responsibility as stewards to the local environment and their responsibility to environments further down the watershed.
Living Classrooms at MCEEC strongly believes in the Green School Program. The MCEEC has assisted nine schools in the past few years to obtain their Green School status. Besides offering these schools guidance with their applications, we have provided cross-curricular hands-on environmental education for students, professional development experiences for teachers, and organized events to celebrate participating schools’ accomplishments. MCEEC also offers free weekend environmental education programs to the public and meeting space for community organizations, helping to strengthen the communities in Southern Baltimore City.
MCEEC is unique due to the partnership between many federal, state, and local entities including: Maryland Port Administration, Living Classrooms Foundation, Maryland Environmental Service, National Aquarium, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Each of these partners plays a vital role in assuring the success of Masonville Cove. The Maryland Port Administration owns the land and contracted Maryland Environmental Service to clean up the contaminants dating back to the Great Baltimore Fire in 1904. Over 60,000 tons of debris has been removed and the land has been capped. The soil is safe for a child to touch it 365 days a year. The National Aquarium developed the shoreline wetlands while the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have assisted with the wildlife management plans of the area. Lastly, Living Classrooms Foundation is responsible for the on-going environmental stewardship programming, serving over 3,000 students per year.
The environmental education programs are developed and implemented by Living Classrooms Foundation, a non-profit experiential education organization that has worked since 1985 to provide hands-on education, job training, and community service/development programs for students from diverse backgrounds. Masonville Cove Environmental Education Campus supports programs that use environmental projects as a delivery system to not only support required academic skills, but also positively impact the community while fostering environmental stewardship. Living Classrooms Foundation is leading programs in local community schools like School Leadership in Urban Runoff Reduction Project and Treasuring our Chesapeake Bay that focus on human impacts on waterways, in particular, runoff pollution and how it affects the downstream habitats like Masonville Cove, the Patapsco River, and the Chesapeake Bay. These programs take place onsite and throughout the community insuring that the local youth understand their responsibility as stewards to the local environment and their responsibility to environments further down the watershed.
Living Classrooms at MCEEC strongly believes in the Green School Program. The MCEEC has assisted nine schools in the past few years to obtain their Green School status. Besides offering these schools guidance with their applications, we have provided cross-curricular hands-on environmental education for students, professional development experiences for teachers, and organized events to celebrate participating schools’ accomplishments. MCEEC also offers free weekend environmental education programs to the public and meeting space for community organizations, helping to strengthen the communities in Southern Baltimore City.