Recognition

I have been fortunate to see community-based environmental work I helped lead recognized across Maryland and beyond, much of it through the Community Ecology Institute, which I founded in 2016. A few highlights are below, followed by the full list of awards and press.

• NBC Today Show segment (2022)
• Maryland 500 Agricultural Recognition, The Daily Record (2026) 
• Solo exhibition, Wildlight: A Chiarascuro Collection, Sandy Spring Museum (2026)
• Environmental and Social Justice Award, Howard County Branch of the NAACP (2024)
• Cornerstone Award, University of Maryland College of Agriculture and Natural Resources (2022)
• Green Community Leadership Award, Howard County (2019, 2020, 2023)

2026

• Maryland 500 Agricultural Recognition, The Daily Record (August 2026)

2024

• Environmental and Social Justice Award, Howard County Branch of the NAACP
• Social Justice Award, Columbia Community Care

2023

• Green Community Leadership Award, Howard County (also 2019 and 2020)

2022

• NBC Today Show segment In 2022, NBC came to Freetown Farm to film CEI's work for the Today Show! Over 150 of our core community members joined us for the filming. The segment turns hours of farm footage into four powerful minutes of storytelling about how we are nurturing communities together.
• Rise to the Challenge Award: CEI was one of five Howard County nonprofits to receive an innovation award from Howard County Government for our collaborative response to the Covid-19 pandemic. County press release
• Cornerstone Award: CEI and the Howard County Extension’s Watershed Stewardship Academy received this University of Maryland College of Agriculture and Natural Resources award for the Freetown Walkable Watershed project, in Optimizing Urban Environments. Read more

2021

• Changemaker Challenge, Community Choice Award: won for CEI’s Nourishing Gardens program, pitched to a collaboration of the Horizon Foundation, United Way of Central Maryland, Women’s Giving Circle, and the Community Foundation of Howard County. Watch the pitch
• ACS Humanitarian Award: from the Association of Community Services of Howard County, for CEI’s work to save and steward Freetown Farm. Watch the video

2020 and earlier

• Howard County Excellence in Bloom, Mixed Age Group Award (2015, 2016, 2017)
• Toyota-Audubon Together Green Fellow (2013)
• Howard Community College Distinguished Alumni Award (2008)

2025

• Newswise: Community Gardens Highlighted as Engines of Social Capital and Resilience in Current Opinion in Psychology (September 2025)
• The Business Monthly: Solar project helps CEI’s Freetown Farm achieve net zero energy status (July 2025)
• The Daily Record: Howard County farm becomes net zero energy facility (July 2025)
• Planet Aid: Creating Lifelong Stewards of the Earth: Planet Aid Supports Family Nature Programs in Maryland (July 2025)
• HerbalGram (American Botanical Council): The Green Farmacy Garden Flourishes with the Community Ecology Institute (April 2025)
• Columbia Patch: Nourishing Gardens Helps Howard County Kids, Adults Grow Their Own Food (April 2025)

2023

• The American Gardener: review of Growing an Edible Landscape (November/December 2023)
• WMAR-2 News: Students in Howard County gain their green thumbs (article and video, August 2023)
• Howard County Government: Community Garden Project Provides Fresh Produce & Nutrition Education Opportunities (August 2023)
• Community Ecology Institute: Nature-Based Learning, People-Planet Connections (April 2023)
• Business Weekly: CEI Connects Community Through Nature (page 13, February 2023)
• HerbalGram (American Botanical Council): CEI Purchases Jim and Peggy Duke’s ‘Green Farmacy Garden’ (January 2023)

2022

• The Baltimore Sun: Freetown Farm flourishes and shares its bountiful harvest (October 2022)
• The Inspirer podcast with Em Barrett: On Cultivating Community with Chiara D’Amore (October 2022)

2021

• YES! Magazine: This Experiential Learning Farm Helps Youth Build a Better World (September 2021)

2020

• HuffPost: Thousands of People are Growing ‘Climate Victory Gardens’ to Save the Planet (February 2, 2020)
• HoCoCast podcast: Episode 2, Connecting Our Community While Isolated (2020)

2019

• BGE Now: The Community Ecology Center connects people with the land that supports us all (December 23, 2019)
• Patch: Second Climate Victory Garden In MD Built On Columbia Farm (November 12, 2019)
• Leadership Howard County Community Impact Project video (October 2019)
• Delmarva Farmer: Community Mobilized to Save Last Columbia Farm (April 25, 2019)
• Patch: Columbia Farm to Become Community Ecology Center (April 12, 2019)
• The Baltimore Sun: Community Ecology Institute: Growing a Farm into a Living Classroom in Howard County (March 22, 2019)

2018 and earlier

• Patapsco Heritage Greenway: Meet Local Environmentalist, Chiara D’Amore (2017)
• The Baltimore Sun: Columbia Families in Nature introduces the great outdoors (2014)