Sustaining Green: Innovative Partners and Funding in Systems-Based Design, Construction, and Maintenance - 1.25 PDH (LA CES/HSW)

Recorded On: 10/06/2024

There is never enough funding for design, construction, and maintenance of green infrastructure. In this session, you will learn about models to bring resources to green infrastructure: systems-based solutions for revitalizing vacant land and parks, structuring green finance to mobilize private investments, and partnering for a full-circle urban wood economy.

Learning objectives:

Understand how to design a process to uncover desired outcomes from green spaces, and how to mobilize partners in their community to construct and care for green spaces.
Use a justice-informed co-design process to integrate community member and implementation partner preferences in the design of high-performance landscapes.
Understand green bonds and other innovative financing instruments and how they support communities in reaching their sustainability and green infrastructure goals.
Understand how urban wood can be used in construction of green spaces, and how capturing value from urban wood can contribute to funding green infrastructure, especially urban forests.

Lauren Marshall, ASLA, PLA, ISA Certified Arborist

Senior Manager, Program Innovation

Arbor Day Foundation

Lauren Marshall, a professional Landscape Architect, is the Senior Manager of Program Innovation at the Arbor Day Foundation. In this role, Lauren leads the development of innovative, equity-driven programs through strategic partnership cultivation and industry research. She has been active in service and leadership roles in the natural resources sector for more than twenty years. Lauren holds a Ph.D. from the University of Maryland, a Master of Landscape Architecture degree from the University of Michigan and a Bachelor of Science in Plant Science from Cornell University.

Marisa Repka

Co-Founder

Cambium Carbon

Marisa is a co-founder of Cambium Carbon, a startup working to advance a circular economy model for wood biomass utilization. At Cambium, Marisa leads the company's environmental analysis and impact work, supporting a network of government, NGO, and private sector partners in developing urban wood utilization programs. She holds a Master degree in Environmental Management with a specialization in Business from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. Marisa is a member of the Board of Directors for the Urban Wood Network.

Andrea Ferri

Finance Manager

Blue Forest

Andrea is the Finance Manager at Blue Forest working on the strategic finance and investing teams. She provides support to Forest Resilience Bonds and lending activity. Prior to her role at Blue Forest, she was the Conservation Loans Manager at The Conservation Fund primarily working with the land trust community to increase the pace and scale of conservation real estate transactions. She holds an BA in Environmental Studies from the University of Tennessee – Knoxville and an MS in Environmental Science and Policy from George Mason University. She is based in Washington DC.