2020 coronavirus pandemic

Maryland Department of Planning Staff Step Up to Support Partner Agencies Amid COVID-19 Pandemic: Part II

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“The Biggest Thing That’s Ever Happened”

Planning Assistance in Action 

by Steven H. Allan, AICP, Planner with the Office of Planning, Education and Outreach at the Maryland Historical Trust, with Kristen E. Humphrey, MLA, Local Assistance and Training

Screenshot showing the homepage of the Maryland Coronavirus (COVID-19) Rumor Control website.

In mid-December 2020, Maryland Historical Trust (MHT) Director, Elizabeth Hughes, informed me that I had been selected for an interim reassignment to help fill a critical staffing need within the Maryland Department of Health (MDH) and/or the Maryland Emergency Management Administration (MEMA). She explained this move was part of a larger effort to tap various personnel from across state government to assist with the COVID-19 response effort as it entered the vaccination phase, moving, hopefully, toward an end of the pandemic.

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Maryland Department of Planning Staff Step Up to Support Partner Agencies Amid COVID-19 Pandemic

/ Maryland Department of Planning / Leave a comment

Planning Assistance in Action 

by Kristen E. Humphrey, MLA, Local Assistance and Training Planner  

Those of you who follow Planning Practice Monthly regularly may have noticed my name on the some of the bylines, or spotted my profile in a Meet the Staff piece currently posted on Planning’s Facebook page. (I serve as the principal writer and editor for the newsletter as part of my broader Local Assistance and Training Planner role for the department).  

You might have also noticed that the newsletter was on hiatus for several months and that this is our first issue following that break. The reason for the break was, starting mid-December to early-January, several Maryland Department of Planning (Planning) staff accepted temporary, but indefinite, assignments with various partner agencies to assist with the state’s response to the COVID-19 crisis. We have been asked to share some of our experiences beginning with this edition. 

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