Katherine Somoza-Garcia

Kathy is a Program Coordinator on the Restoration team at the Chesapeake Bay Trust. As a Program Coordinator, she manages four award programs including the Community Engagement and Restoration Mini Grant Program and the Prince George’s County Rain Check Rebate Program. Leading these programs entails working with applicants upfront to provide guidance on project ideas, draft budgets, and provide technical assistance throughout the application and grant management stages. Many of the organizations she works with have missions that are not primarily environmental but overlap with the environmental sector, such as workforce development, education, food security, and public safety. Kathy is proud to work with and learn from a diverse range of organizations and individuals. She is committed to advancing environmental justice through inclusive outreach strategies and increased accessibility of programs and resources.

The Chesapeake Bay Trust (Trust) empowers local community-based groups on the ground with the resources they need to improve the bays, streams, rivers, forests, parks, and other natural resources of our local systems, from the Chesapeake to the Coastal Bays to the Youghiogheny River. The Trust, supported in large part by Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay License Plate and partnerships with other regional funders, engages and empowers diverse groups to take actions that enrich natural resources and local communities of the Chesapeake Bay region. We feel that a broad range of communities can benefit from a healthy environment, even if their primary focus is on other issues. Since 1985, the Trust has awarded over $140 million in grants to municipalities, nonprofit organizations, schools, and public agencies throughout the Chesapeake Bay watershed.