Newsroom

May 29, 2014

Patrick Wojahn serves College Park Maryland as a City Councilmember. He also currently serves as the Chairman of the National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board at COG. Wojahn an attorney and civil rights advocate is Director of Government Relations at Rails-To-Trails Conservancy. Previously he advocated for the rights of people with disabilities at a national non-profit organization and provided legal services for adults with mental illness and for people living with HIV/AIDS in t​

May 29, 2014

Area leaders turned their attention to energy for the next installment of COG’s 2014 Regional Infrastructure Series. During the May Board meeting utility officials and experts led a wide-ranging discussion on more than $5.5 billion in investments over the next five years to replace and upgrade aging natural gas pipes and electric power lines as well as new technologies to improve reliability. In addition they covered topics central to our Region Forward goals for sustainable growth such as en​

May 28, 2014

School safety and campus security were the focus of a seminar series held earlier this spring in the District of Columbia, Virginia, and Maryland. The series tackled preparedness for K-12 and college campus safety for both man-made and natural disaster events.

May 22, 2014

At a packed annual meeting this week members and supporters of The Nonprofit Roundtable (an early ally of our Region Forward Vision) gave strong support to the idea that their work must be more effectively financed and promoted to help their organizations make a bigger difference for the region.

May 21, 2014

The Council of Governments’ recently released report Homelessness in Metropolitan Washington found that on January 29 2014 there were 11946 homeless people living in the Metropolitan Washington region – a 3.5 percent increase from 2013. The report attributes the regional uptick primarily to the increase in homeless persons in the District of Columbia which has been covered widely by local media and blogs.

May 21, 2014

At its meeting today, the National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board (TPB) voted to send a letter to Congress, calling for the replenishment of the Federal Highway Trust Fund (HTF) and the reauthorization of MAP-21, the current surface transportation funding package passed in 2012. The impending insolvency of the HTF will jeopardize critical projects in the coming fiscal year, which is set to improve safety on roads, railways, and pedestrian and bike infrastructure for more than 5 mil​

May 19, 2014

It's now easier than ever for Washington area commuters to find carpool partners, locate park-and-ride lots, and access other information and resources to help them find easier, less expensive ways to get to work.

May 15, 2014

Washington, D.C. — Dozens of federal, state and local elected officials and dignitaries, including U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx, Virginia State Senator Barbara Favola, Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett are scheduled to show their support for this year’s Bike to Work Day by meeting and greeting cyclists at local Bike to Work Day pit stops on Friday, May 16. Commuters are expected to leave their cars at home, help reduce traffic congestion, improve air quality, and suppo​

May 15, 2014

The Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG) today launched a fundraising campaign through the on-line crowd-funding site Kickstarter, Inc. to support its creative efforts focused on the region’s foster parents. COG works to highlight the need for foster parents by creating documentaries and sponsoring events to honor foster parents in Washington, D.C., suburban Maryland and Northern Virginia.​

May 14, 2014

While the rain poured down at historic levels this April representatives from 20 federal regional and local agencies gathered in the U.S. General Services Agency (GSA) Headquarters in the District of Columbia to brainstorm strategies to lessen the impacts of both gradual changes in climate and more extreme weather events as a result climate change. The workshop hosted by the Council of Governments NASA National Capital Planning Commission Smithsonian GSA and U.S. Global Change Research Prog​