We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Chiara D’Amore a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Chiara, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.
From the coast of Virginia to the mountains of California, and much in between, the natural environment is at the core of many of my oldest and best memories. My early childhood was largely spent playing outside, a joyful experience to which I attribute my deep, lasting connection and commitment to the Earth. I am particularly fond of the time when I was about five years old and we lived on a hobby farm replete with a willow tree banked creek, dilapidated barn, herd of goats, and an open field. The creek was a source of grand adventures, the barn was musty and mysterious, the goats were fun to frolic with, but the field was my truly special place. I would spend hours watching the world in motion around me—ants marching, grasses swaying, and clouds drifting by. I recall feeling deeply content and at home in that little patch of land where I knew myself to be a small but worthy part of the web of life. My parents nurtured this connection, both by giving me the time and space for free play in nature and by joining me in exploration of the natural world–showing me how to make fairy houses, growing tomatoes together, and regaling me with stories of their own childhood adventures in nature and of the ways in which we are all connected with the world around us.
As I entered my school years, the days spent playing wildly, aimlessly, or with deep focus in nature began to wane. I have some favored memories of playing among the roots of a large tree on the edge of the school playground and of a science project in which we made a close study of all the life contained in one square foot of grass, but most of my days were spent sitting at a desk in windowless buildings. My after-school hours were occupied with homework and household responsibilities, but on the weekends I was still able to largely run free outside. After many moves, when I was in fourth grade my family settled in Columbia, Maryland. In a community designed around an expansive open space system, I only had to walk to the end of our street to reach a path through woods and streams where I could play for hours. This was the era of the late 1980s and early 1990s, and even as a kid I noticed how few children were out looking for salamanders and crayfish with me. Most of my peers were enrolled in numerous extracurricular activities and captivated by the newly popular home gaming systems. While I did not follow those particular trends, as I entered middle and high school my time in nature waned.
It was not until I was a student at the local community college that my affinity for nature and my tacit awareness of personal environmental responsibility became organized around active engagement in broader sustainability issues. A dear family friend who was a devoted environmentalist was critically injured in a car accident. As he slowly made progress in his recovery we worked together to co-found the community college’s environmental club as a way to help him reengage with his passions. As a result of my growing awareness of and engagement with environmental issues, when I transferred to a four year university I double majored in biology with a focus on ecological systems and international studies with a focus on the environment. From then on, my academic and professional careers have been dedicated to protecting the natural world. I completed a Master’s degree in Environmental Science and Engineering and went on to work as an environmental consultant for fourteen years. I addressed environmental issues from a variety of angles during this time, from evaluating international protocols, to managing programs for the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, to designing and implementing energy efficiency programs for utility companies. A unifying thread across this work has been the use of voluntary initiatives to achieve environmental goals.
The birth of my son in late 2009 and daughter in early 2013 has led to many profound changes in my life. Being a mom is the most rewarding and challenging job I have ever had. I am deeply dedicated to raising my children in a way that nurtures the best in their nature. I believe healthy human development optimally begins with secure attachment in the child-parent relationship, a path shown to me by my parents and affirmed by abundant research. I scaled back my work as an environmental consultant to allow me to be based from home and serve as our children’s primary care giver while also continuing my education through the completion of a doctoral degree in Sustainability Education. My doctoral research planted the seed for what became my non-profit organization, the Community Ecology Institute. Founded in 2016, the mission of this organization is to cultivate communities where people and nature thrive together. We achieve this mission by using our two small suburban farms to provide equitable, intergenerational experiential education that leads to intersecting health and environmental benefits.
These personal experiences of growing up deeply connected to nature, becoming an environmental professional, returning to play in nature with my-own children, being witness to how much is changing with regard to the environment and our connection with it have directly informed my life’s work as an, as my Instagram profile says, “an environmental scientist and educator, mom, farmer/forager, artist, community builder, and force of and for nature”.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
My days are still largely defined by caring for my now early teenaged children. In the hours while they are at school or occupied in their other pursuits, I am hard at work leading the Community Ecology Institute (CEI), the non-profit I founded in 2016 based on my doctoral research in sustainability education. But before I dive into what that looks like, it is important for me to mention that when I am not mothering or doing my paid work, my favorite ways to spend time are meandering through nature and exploring life around me, which often includes pausing to forage for snacks and/or create art out of items I found around me. If I’m with my friends (and often their kids) all the better!
Back to work though. CEI’s work focuses on tangible, community-level change at the intersection of environment, education, equity, and health. From our two properties, Freetown Farm and the Green Farmacy Garden, we showcase and teach evidence-based best practices in these areas that are specifically responsive to our community’s natural and social ecosystems. CEI now offers seven core experiential education programs that are intentionally designed to serve a diverse, intergenerational audience of community members. In 2023 alone we had meaningful engagement with more than 3,500 diverse members of our community that equated to more than 52,000 educational impact hours!
The mission of CEI’s original program, a Community of Families in Nature (CFIN), is to provide frequent, fun and friendly nature-based experiential education that can be enjoyed by the entire family – children of all ages and their caregivers. By connecting families with nearby nature, the goals of CFIN are to: foster greater connection with nature and the community; increase environmental awareness and action; and support the well-being of participants, including strengthening family relationships. CFIN began in 2014 (prior to the creation of CEI) as Columbia Families in Nature. As of the end of 2023, CFIN has offered more than 370 events for more than 830 families (reaching more than 9,600 participants). Collectively we have enjoyed more than 31,350 hours of time exploring and learning primarily in Howard County’s natural areas. In 2023 the program offered 40 events for members (10 per season) as well as three camping trips and free community events (open to the general public) throughout the year–four seasonal events, three gardening focused events, and two Walktober Events. These 52 events were enjoyed by 86 distinct families. CFIN Leaders collaborated with a number of organizations and partners to provide our events. A family shared: “It’s a wonderful way to get outside with your family. There are great opportunities to give back for all ages like invasive species removal and trash clean up, as well as learning opportunities about nature.”
The mission of the Roots & Wings Learning Community is to offer supplemental experiential education for home-schooled children that nurtures a deep connection to self, community and the environment through programming that emphasizes creativity, social and emotional learning, and nature-based exploration. The goals of Roots & Wings are to: offer a flexible, yet consistent educational community for mixed age groups of students; provide a holistic curriculum that encourages personal connection to topics that support the student’s well-being; foster clarity around student’s educational joys and a life-long love of learning. The Roots & Wings program launched in 2018 and initially operated as a two day per week program for elementary-aged students and served 22 students. In the fall of 2019, the program expanded to four-days-per-week and served 43 students. In the fall of 2020, the program was fully based at Freetown Farm and the number of students served increased to 62 as families sought alternatives to the online schooling situation created by Covid. In the fall of 2021, we added an “upper” level to the program to serve the children that are growing up with this innovative educational community. In the Fall of 2023, the program welcomed 103 children between the ages of 5 and 15. Roots and Wings added a “specials hour” in Fall 2023 for all age groups, in which community educators and organizations visited the program to offer unique learning opportunities. Students had the opportunity to learn hand skills such as how to cook, weave, and make clay, cordage, ink, and tea. A parent shared: “I just wanted to say how amazing the specials have been this year! The girls are super excited for all of the new skills they’ve been learning, this has been such a fun addition to this tremendous program!!”
Based on our history of robust nature-based educational programming, in 2018 CEI was given the opportunity to purchase the last working farm in Columbia. With the support of the Howard County Government, the Columbia Association, Leadership Howard County, and numerous community stakeholders, we were able to protect this 6.4-acre organic farm, which we purchased in June of 2019. In the past four and a half years, much of which has been during the challenges of Covid, we have worked diligently to transform the once-defunct property into an inviting place where community members can learn through hands-on experience about ways to lead happier, healthier, more connected and sustainable lives. As the stewards of this land, now known as Freetown Farm, CEI has increasingly expanded both the type of programs that we offer and the populations that we serve.
In 2020—with COVID challenging our community in unprecedented ways—CEI chose to grow as much food as possible for the community and to provide people with an outdoor place to volunteer where they felt safe, connected, and supported in their well-being. With the help of more than 500 individual volunteers, and collaborations with community organizations such as the Howard County Branch of the NAACP, HopeWorks, and the Indian Origin Network, the CEI team was able to grow more than two and a half tons of food that year. Half of this produce was donated to Columbia Community Care and half was sold to the Roving Radish program and through our farm stand. In 2020, CEI was also the recipient of a county innovation grant, for our Climate of Hope initiative, which strategically invested in Freetown Farm to make it a demonstration and education space for the practices associated with the county’s commitment to the U.S. Climate Alliance’s Natural and Working Lands Challenge. This collaborative work growing food and tending the land has continued to grow over the past several years. In 2023 we grew more than 5,500 pounds of food using regenerative agricultural practices, which was made accessible to over 25,000 community members through our partnerships with local organizations (see our response to question five for more details). The Emergency Services Manager at LARS said: “Our experience working with CEI over the past year has been nothing short of crucial in our mission to provide additional healthy food support to our clients. The partnership has proven to be a cornerstone in our efforts to address the diverse needs of the community, ensuring that our clients have access to nutritious options.” Much of our success in being able to practice regenerative agriculture and steward our two unique small-scale farm properties comes from our robust volunteer support. In 2023 alone we had more than 760 diverse and unique individuals volunteer with us.
In the fall of 2020, CEI launched what is now known as our Green SEEDS (service, experiential education, & design for sustainability) student internship program. The mission of CEI’s internship program is to provide experiential education and work experience for high school and college students across a range of intersectional socio-ecological themes. This program has two tracks. The first is for high-school students in Howard County and the second is for college students. We currently accept applications for 15-20 students to participate in our seasonal internship sessions, which provide robust experiential environmental education and community engagement opportunities. The students are guided in learning about and taking leadership on initiatives such as: native tree planting and food forestry; creating native pollinator meadows; garden design, creation, maintenance and harvesting; reducing and reusing waste materials; and community engagement and communications around ecological stewardship and climate action. The high-school internship program also serves neuro-diverse students participating in a range of programs provided by the Howard County Public School System, such as Career and Community Exploration and Project Search. These students are bused to the farm two-to-four days per week during their school day and supported by CEI and school system staff in learning transferable job skills. Our college internship program is coordinated directly with programs and professors aligned with our mission. From Howard Community, to Towson University occupational therapy students and UMD and Georgetown University environmental students, we co-create internship opportunities that provide experiential education related to students’ learning and career goals. In 2023, 74 students interned with CEI. Our interns have directly and substantially interacted with the Howard County Branch of the NAACP, the Harriet Tubman Cultural Center, and Columbia Community Care. They helped install CEI’s Nourishing Gardens in the community, cared for multiple gardens at Freetown Farm, and designed a Peace Garden as their capstone project.
In the fall of 2021, we transitioned our county supported Climate of Hope pilot program from 2020 into our Nourishing Gardens program. The mission of this program is two-fold: (1) installing food and pollinator gardens in yards, community spaces, and with community-based organizations and businesses, and (2) providing a green-infrastructure jobs training program. The program launched with the support of a Howard County Changemaker Challenge award and since then 72 people have been engaged in the Nourishing Gardens training, learning the skills to transform lawns into ecologically beneficial growing space and helping to install 39 gardens in the community, 16 of which are at Howard County’s Public Schools. In 2023, 32 trainees participated in the Nourishing Gardens program, gaining knowledge and experience while installing 12 new gardens throughout Howard County – a total of 860 community training hours and more than 1,000 combined hours of service to our community. Nourishing Gardens also continued to offer support to our 2022 garden partners, providing teacher education, student workshops, and annual replanting and maintenance for 13 existing gardens. Thanks to Nourishing Gardens, more than 2,000 food and pollinator plants were added to the biodiversity of our ecosystem in 2023. Nourishing Gardens also expanded its private services, including two home installations, as well as an herb and pollinator garden at the Mall of Columbia. CEI welcomed another Nourishing Gardens graduate to our paid staff this year, continuing to fulfill our goal to create green infrastructure job opportunities. A 2023 training said: “I loved absolutely EVERYTHING about this program. Our trip to ARC to build the garden area was definitely a highlight. To be able to help others and teach through gardening is priceless.”
In 2023 we had our first year as the new stewards of the Green Farmacy Garden, a very unique six-acre property in Fulton. We also completed the renovation of the barn at Freetown Farm into our Gray-Howell Community Engagement Center. Having two properties that now have indoor amenities has been transformative in our ability to welcome diverse community members to innovative, year-round programming. In 2023 we had more than 1,115 people participate in our workshop offerings! In addition to our traditional seasonal celebrations and Repair Cafes, we introduced new workshops this year including seed saving, entomology, fiber arts, “plastic free July” events, foraging, and introductions to herbal medicine.
CEI is the proud recipient of 2019, 2020, and 2023 Howard County Green Community Leadership Awards. In 2020 CEI received a Humanitarian Award from the Association of Community Services. In 2021 we were co-collaborators in the County’s Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Culture of Health Prize. Later in 2021, CEI received the Community Choice award of the Howard County Changemaker Challenge for our Nourishing Gardens Program. In 2022 we received a Rise to the Challenge award for non-profit innovation in the face of Covid from the County and a Cornerstone Award from the University of Maryland College of Agriculture and Natural Resources for our innovative work around community stormwater management. We were also featured on the NBC Today Show, once in October and again in December as one of their best stories of the year – https://www.today.com/video/freetown-farm-is-cultivating-veggies-and-nurturing-communities-150132293903?fbclid=IwAR3O_V9cwHFr1-Uwnf5CeYk_qlp3BTBr97WyOpM1PDa4TGUuQIbZX9GvtPU
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
1. Stay connected with what lights you up and brings you a sense of curiosity, connection, and joy. This may not always be what pays your bills (all the better if it can be, at least in part), but some part of your life should stay directed to your unique passions and interests.
2. Keep learning – it doesn’t have to be formal education, just keep seeking new knowledge, ideally through direct experiences and from people with a wide range of lived experiences and areas of expertise.
3. Be of service – if there is a concern you have or need you see in your community, figure out who is doing work in that area already and offer your time, talent, and/or treasure to their efforts. If over time you find that there is a niche that you can uniquely fill, then you will have experience and a network of support to help you create your own thing.
Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?
Collaboration is an essential part of how I achieve impacts in my community. I would love to collaborate with people who resonate with my story work. For folks who are local to central Maryland, I’d love to see where we can find areas of alignment in our personal and/or professional missions and opportunities to work together – let’s walk and talk! For folks further afield, I am interested in artistic, academic, and organizational collaborations – contact me at [email protected] with any ideas you may have. You can learn more about me and my work at chiaradamore.com and/or www.communityecologyinstitute.org
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.communityecologyinstitute.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chiara.d.amore/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/communityecologyinstitute
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chiaradamore/
- Other: https://www.today.com/video/freetown-farm-is-cultivating-veggies-and-nurturing-communities-150132293903?fbclid=IwAR3O_V9cwHFr1-Uwnf5CeYk_qlp3BTBr97WyOpM1PDa4TGUuQIbZX9GvtPU
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
