Building upon earlier Smart Growth initiatives, this program will focus on revitalizing neighborhoods that are beginning to decline.
Older communities struggle to thrive across Maryland.
For too many years, tax dollars were spent funding new communities instead of continuing investments in existing neighborhoods. The passage of the Smart Growth legislation in 1997 began to focus state tax dollars on existing neighborhoods. The Community Legacy program builds on Smart Growth by providing much-needed dollars to older communities in urban, suburban and rural areas to fill funding gaps and remove administrative barriers to effective use of resources for revitalization. This program will help solve housing, infrastructure, recreation and business challenges in these communities. Loosely based on the Rural Legacy program, this new initiative will also be a competitive program.