Identifying and fostering the growth of innovative companies has long been a focus of economic development. However, traditional methods of economic analysis often fail to identify sources of innovative growth because they are not designed to do so. Innovation is by definition ever-evolving and defies methods that focus on slow growth and historic trends. By […]
Lead Local Gov / Community Partner Org Name: Howard County & Columbia Association
Regional Patapsco Greenway
The Regional Patapsco Greenway (RPG) project ascertains the potential economic impact of adding shared-use pathways connected to a network of shared-use pathways between the following destinations: Baltimore City’s Inner Harbor; the existing BWI Trail; Elkridge; historic Ellicott City; Catonsville; the existing Grist Mill Trail. Currently, the Grist Mill Trail, between Ellicott City and Elkridge, starts […]
Proposals for Addressing Exotic Invasive Species: The Middle Patuxent Environmental Area and Surrounds
This report describes efforts undertaken by students as part of LARC 452 Green Infrastructure and Community Greening, Fall 2015. The course is divided into three sections. Section one focuses on land preservation principles and programs in the State of Maryland. Section two focuses on greening standards in the site development process including the implementation of […]
Measuring Neighborhood Stability
In their work, students made two types of conclusions—about the effectiveness of the measured characteristics in revealing neighborhood stability and about the stability of particular census tracts in the County. Measured Characteristics: Given that housing sales prices and household incomes are higher than average in Howard County, the typical measures of neighborhood stability are not […]
Policy Interventions to Address Poverty in Howard County, Maryland
This report comprises excerpts from the best ten reports submitted by students in the Public Finance and Public Policy class of the fall semester at the University of Maryland, College Park. In introducing these papers, I want to draw attention to what I consider to be the best program ideas to come out of the […]
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Building an Urban Design Website
The project’s goal is to build an interactive website in the form of a Content Management System (CMS) that would engage the interest of the public and stakeholders in Ellicott City. The architecture students of UMD, under the umbrella of the Partnership for Action Learning in Sustainability (PALS), came up with design proposals and illustrations […]
Emergency Notification System Analysis
The emergency notification system enables one-way or two-way communication between emergency communication staff, first responders, and impacted individuals. Counties have suffered from various severe weather conditions from time to time, including flooding, thunderstorms, tornadoes, hurricanes, tsunamis, freezing conditions, fire, blizzards, and other climatic emergencies. There are also other human-caused emergencies such as hazardous conditions caused […]
Data Driven Model of Evidence Based Practices for Corrections Programs
The Howard County Department of Corrections (HCDC) protects the public and its employees by providing safe, secure and humane conditions for persons legally under its authority. To achieve this goal, the department offers many programs and provides multiple opportunities for offenders to become law abiding and productive members of society. The aim of this capstone […]
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Promoting Online Public Engagement & Increasing Civic Engagement
To increase public engagement in Howard County and the Columbia Association, this report provides strategies for online and in-person engagement activities and programs. It suggests that both organizations continue to develop strong technology infrastructure, such as optimizing Wi-Fi services, maximizing the OpenHoward Data Portal’s effectiveness, and investing in mobile website design. Both groups can use […]
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Database Plan Development
Howard County would like to develop and populate a single holistic database that includes all the information on commercial buildings and occupancies for use by County agencies in various initiatives like inspections, licensing, and billing. Currently, there are many different County agencies that use information regarding commercial businesses, their occupancy and structure characteristics. For example, […]