Five ways Takoma Park and Dumfries are turning climate goals into local results

As national climate policy ebbs and flows, two Washington, D.C., suburbs are pressing ahead with local action. At a Center for American Progress panel held Tuesday during DC Climate Week, the mayors of Takoma Park, Maryland, and Dumfries, Virginia, outlined how they are translating climate goals into tangible community benefits through targeted investments, infrastructure upgrades and resident-focused programs.

“States and cities are standing up,” said Frederick Bell, associate director for state climate policy at the Center for American Progress, arguing that the federal government has stepped back from climate and resilience initiatives politically and financially.

The two mayors described approaches shaped by very different histories: in Takoma Park, environmental activism “is embedded in the bedrock of our community,” Mayor Talisha Searcy said, while Dumfries “became economically depressed because of our climate illiteracy,” Mayor Derrick Wood said.

Takoma Park is concentrating its resilience efforts on buildings because they are easier to regulate locally than transportation, the city’s largest emissions source, Searcy said. She described multifamily residences with antiquated heating and cooling systems “held together with Elmer’s glue and duct tape,” underscoring the need for upgrades so residents “regardless of their income level” can be comfortable in their homes.

As part of the city’s push to reach net zero greenhouse gases by 2035, Takoma Park is encouraging building owners to use green energy and is piloting a food composting program for multifamily buildings, Searcy said. The city used American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 funds to launch a grant program that helps multifamily building owners make efficiency upgrades.

Building out clean infrastructure is another priority. Searcy said Takoma Park obtained nearly $2 million in state and county grant funds to install EV chargers, a first step toward electrifying its police fleet and other city vehicles. Dumfries, meanwhile, brought on an Environmental Defense Fund intern to help explore electrifying its entire fleet, including police vehicles, Wood said.

“We’re about to map out our plan and change our vehicles over,” he added. Both leaders stressed that climate policy must deliver for residents now. In flood-prone parts of Takoma Park, Searcy said the city is working to protect public buildings and homes from repeated flooding.

“This is not a matter of performative policy speak,” she said. “It was a real issue that so many people in our community were facing in a real way.” Dumfries’ turnaround has included reclaiming land for new uses. Wood said he worked to close a major construction debris landfill 10 years early, freeing up 162 acres along Quantico Creek for a gaming resort and a public park.

According to Wood, the resort brought 500 new jobs to the town of about 5,000. “When you think about climate, you’ve got to think about, well, how are you creating jobs? How are you doing things to benefit residents?” he said, calling the project an adaptive reuse that helped “rediscover Dumfries.” Partnerships and funding alignment remain essential, the panelists said.

Wood noted that Dumfries recently secured federal funds for a stormwater and stabilization project along Quantico Creek by reframing the proposal to align with federal priorities. For both communities, the next phase includes advancing fleet electrification and continuing to leverage federal, state and private partnerships to sustain momentum.