PATTY DOWD

Coordinator

Patty splits her work time between the Friends of Herring Run Parks and the Natural History Society of Maryland. A graphic designer with more than 20 years of experience (running a firm with her husband, Rich, and then working for the Baltimore Museum of Art), she became FHRP’s first coordinator in 2014. She manages all of FHRP’s day-to-day business, plans and coordinates events, handles communications, and represents FHRP to government agencies, community groups, and nonprofits. Her work has included everything from sourcing trash cans to managing teenage conservation corps members to winning grants from local and national groups.
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Patty is a longtime resident of Arcadia, where she shares her home not only with people but with two cats and two turtles. She has an immediate bond with anyone who loves the park as she does.

Patty’s favorite thing about Herring Run:  The boulders and rocks in the upper stream bed, the sandy shores in the lower portions, the trees, the meadows of milkweed, the wildlife, the history — both natural and social. 

You can email Patty at pdowd@friendsofherringrun.org

​KADIJA HART

​Board President

​Kadija is the Director of Resource Development for Belair-Edison Neighborhoods, Inc. (BENI). In that capacity, she establishes relationships to help fund the mission of the organization. Kadija is a community organizer at heart and loves connecting people to resources to enhance their quality of life. Before her non-profit career she owned her own video production company and was a radio talk show host.

In her spare time she enjoys creating nature-related art throughout Baltimore. Ask her about her fiber installations in at Leakin Park, Lake Montebello and Belair-Edison! A Morgan State graduate, she lives in Ednor Gardens-Lakeside with her husband and their son. Kadija has served on the Friends of Herring Run board since 2014.
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Favorite thing about Herring Run: Serenity in the midst of the urban landscape. “Seeing a fox run across Lake Avenue or a deer walking around Chesterfield in daylight is a wondrous thing,” says Kadija. “I’m grateful I don’t have to go to the suburbs to enjoy that.”

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​SCOTT JOHNSON

Board Vice President

Scott has been the Community School Coordinator for Afya Public Charter School since 2015. Through partnerships, Scott taps local resources to meet student needs and engages students in serving the community. He also coaches Afya’s soccer team, which has as its first order of business at every game or practice de-littering the Herring Run field where the team plays.

An avid hiker since his undergraduate days at Morgan State, Scott founded and leads a Boy Scout troop at Afya.

Favorite thing about Herring Run: Bringing Afya students into the park, especially to plant trees, as they did in 2016.
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LAURA GILLIS

Board Secretary

Laura Gillis joined the Friends of Herring Run Parks Board in 2012 and served as President from 2013 through 2018. Trained as a nurse, Laura is particularly interested in the health benefits of the park. She is a member of the leadership team for a woman-owned business that offers technical assistance and training to providers working with marginalized populations. She has decades of experience writing and winning grants, a skill she has used on behalf of FHRP. She helped spearhead the board’s 2018 strategic planning process.

Since moving to Baltimore in 1985, Laura and her husband have lived in the City’s northeast section, for the past 15 years, in a house overlooking Lake Montebello.

Favorite thing about Herring Run: Watching the trees’ seasonal changes and seeing red foxes as she rides her bike on the park’s trails.

ELLIS BROWN

Board Member

Ellis is currently Grants Specialist with the Division of Research and Development at Morgan State University, where he has held several positions, including Director of the Morgan Community Mile Initiative. Since coming to Morgan in 2004, he has expanded and strengthened the University’s community involvement by participating in and working with neighborhood associations and other community stakeholders across the City.

Highlights of his career before coming to Baltimore include establishing a community development corporation for Edward Waters College in Jacksonville, Fla.; serving as a volunteer and an executive for the Peace Corps; and directing the Senegal country office of the nonprofit Africare.

Ellis helped found the group that became Friends of Herring Run.

Favorite thing about Herring Run: The existing paved biking trail. Adds Ellis, “I dearly hope one day soon it will connect with a trail along the stream through and beyond Morgan State.” ​

KEVIN CLEARY

Board Member

Kevin has 40+ years of work experience in the public and nonprofit sectors with more than 20 years working for Baltimore City agencies. Recently retired from the Baltimore City Fire Department, he has successfully written grants and managed short- and long-term projects. He has served both as a staff and board member of local nonprofit agencies.

He was active for more than 30 years with the Lauraville Improvement Association and was one of the original organizers of the Lauraville Fair. He joined the board in 2018, and has already represented FHRP at events and meetings, led a Black Friday hike, and helped monitor the Shannon drive erosion.

Favorite thing about Herring Run: Spaces for organized and impromptu recreational activities as well as wonder places for quiet solitude. “In some of those quiet places you can hear Herring Run sing to you if you take the time to listen.“ 

AMANDA CUNNINGHAM

Board Member

​Amanda has been involved in Baltimore’s greening scene for over 20 years. She has managed programs for Parks & People, co-authored a community greening how-to book, helped found and direct the Baltimore Tree Trust, and developed the Baltimore TreeKeepers Program. She volunteers on the Baltimore City Forestry Board and is Co-President of the Flowering Tree Trails of Baltimore. She is certified as an arborist with tree-risk assessment qualification. For 24 years she has been a volunteer educator with the master gardener program of the University of Maryland’s Extension Service.

For fun, Amanda hunts down trees to measure for the Maryland Big Tree program. An alumna of Towson State, she lives in the Waltherson neighborhood. She joined the board in 2018.
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Favorite thing about Herring Run: All of its wildness!

BARBARA JACKSON

Board Member

Barbara is the longtime President of the Frankford Improvement Association. In that role she has prevailed on developers to give back to the communities where they were active, and also organized many National Night Out events. Before her retirement, she was an educator and union leader in the Baltimore City Public Schools for more than 40 years. She has been the consumer commissioner on the Maryland Board of Pharmacy.

With her many connections to city leaders, Barbara serves as the board’s elder stateswoman.

Favorite thing about Herring Run:  Great place for National Night Out.

BESS KELLER

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Board Member

Bess is a writer, editor, and researcher. She formerly worked as a public affairs manager for UMBC, a publicist for a think tank, and a reporter for a national education newspaper. She holds a master’s degree in public policy and is currently a Fellow (2019) with GreenFaith, an interfaith coalition for the environment that works with houses of worship, religious schools, and people of all faiths to help them become better environmental stewards.

She joined the board in 2017 and helped spearhead the board’s 2018 strategic planning process. She has been picking up trash with her bare hands for 30+ years.

Favorite thing about Herring Run: The way the stream meanders through a diversity of neighborhoods, providing residents with nature next door, and park goers with the experience of both nature and the build environment.

BETTY MAYES

Board Member

Betty Mayes is a longtime, active resident of the Arcadia neighborhood and serves as the newsletter editor for the Arcadia Improvement Association. Betty and her husband, Bob, played in the park as children and then brought their own three children to play there. Before her retirement, Betty had a varied career as a nurse.

Along with Bob, Betty is an avid birder and has led bird walks in the park since 2017. She was a founder of FHRP when it was a committee of the Herring Run Watershed Association. Other board members turn to Betty and Bob for their institutional knowledge of both FHRP and the park.

Favorite thing about Herring Run: The wonders of a beautiful stream valley, including birds, other wildlife, and the forest–all of which need our protection

BOB MAYES

Board Member

Bob Mayes is a longtime participant in the civic activities of the Arcadia neighborhood, and served for three terms as President of the Arcadia Improvement Association. Bob grew up in Belair-Edison, and he and his wife, Betty, have lived in the neighborhood for close to 50 years. Now retired, Bob worked as a structural engineer. Among other projects, he helped rebuilt the dome of the Baltimore City Hall. He is a heavily involved with the Boy Scout troop based at St. Francis of Assisi Church, where he and Betty are members.

Bob uses his camera to document both the park’s beauty and conditions that call for remediation. He and Betty have been leading bird walks in Herring Run since 2017. He is a charter member of the board.

Favorite thing about Herring Run: Its natural beauty, which adds greatly to the attraction and value of our surrounding communities. ​​