Strong Towns Charles County

06/03/2026

Thank you Vontasha Simms and Dyotha Sweat for responding to our Candidate Questionnaire!

To read their responses, check out our Substack post: https://strongtownscharlesco.substack.com/p/2026-primary-election-candidates

We sent all the Primary Election candidates questions about growth and development, transportation, infrastructure, and more, to help better understand their position on these topics.

Commissioner candidates, if you’re reading this check your email! It’s not too late to submit your responses and help your community be more informed voters!

05/28/2026

We're hosting an Indian Head Community Events & Volunteer Roundtable and lunch on Saturday, June 13, 2026. Join us!

This working lunch is intended to bring together local organizations, Town representatives, event planners, civic groups, churches, nonprofits, volunteer teams, small business supporters, and residents who want to help strengthen community life in Indian Head.

The purpose is practical and collaborative: compare upcoming event calendars, identify volunteer and resource needs, reduce unnecessary overlap, and find opportunities to support one another through the second half of the year.

Date: Saturday, June 13, 2026
Time: 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Location: Black Box Theater, Indian Head, MD
Lunch: Light lunch will be provided

RSVP here: voih.org/event-roundtable

Together, we can make the second half of the year more connected, more coordinated, and more impactful.

05/28/2026

Super cool video!!

There’s no better way to celebrate than with a new documentary exploring how the Netherlands became the world’s cycling nation. 🚲🇳🇱

We’re honoured to be two of ten experts featured in Vijay Malhotra’s beautiful new film “All About Dutch Cycling”, which shares the policies, infrastructure, culture, and people behind everyday cycling in the Netherlands.

Also starring Edwin Mermans, Angela van der Kloof, Jos Sluijsmans, Mark Wagenbuur, Geert Kloppenburg, Marc de Vries, Herbert Tiemans, and Maud de Vries.

The movie premieres on YouTube this Wednesday, June 3rd at 15:00 CET, featuring a live chat with the participants. We hope you’ll tune in, watch along, and join the discussion.

For those of us working to build more liveable and loveable cities, this ‘Dutch masterclass’ shows us another way of moving—and thriving—is possible.

🎥 WATCH via the link in bio/comments.

05/28/2026

We may have a few more trees than this picture, but it’s still the same streets and traffic!

05/28/2026

We’re happy to see this progress being made possible across the state. Unfortunately we don’t have any qualifying areas in Charles County, but we will keep figuring for smarter development here nonetheless!

05/28/2026

Here's a little last minute reminder to join us for tomorrow's meeting. Our DMs are open if you need the link to join and aren't on our email list!

Ice Breaker Question to start thinking about: What kind of businesses, shops, and other places would you want to have within walking distance of your home?

05/25/2026

Last week, our members celebrated the County’s annual Community Clean Up Day by picking up 11 bags of trash from along the beach at Chapel Point State Park. Swipe through to take a look at the before and after comparison for each area we cleaned, and a beautiful view of the Potomac at the end! ☀️🏝️

OUR ASK TO YOU: Will you host a cleanup somewhere near you? We spent about two hours cleaning here, but even fifteen minutes makes a difference! Grab a friend or go solo. The County offers litter cleanup supplies like grabbers, gloves, and bags. Don’t wait for someone else to do it!

The things we picked up (mostly bottles, cans, takeout containers, and plastic bags) take hundreds if not thousands of years to biodegrade and contaminate our favorite places while they are out there. By cleaning them up, we can help keep our communities safer, healthier, and more beautiful. Show your community pride by helping to take care of it!

05/21/2026

Bikes deliver the freedom and adventure that car ads promise.

05/21/2026

We can (and do) have concerns with BOTH the tremendous amounts of water used for AI and for lawns.

Your lawn SHOULD NOT look lush and green all the time in the warmer months, it is a plant that has dormant periods where it looks dead and brown but is not dead! We have to reckon with the social and economic pressure to have perfectly manicured lawns. Consider exploring some lawn alternatives for some or all of your lawn, especially if you have a large amount of land that just sits unused! It would be much more beautiful and beneficial to the ecosystem as a native plant meadow or forest.

05/15/2026

Would love for some parents or teachers to take the initiative to start a bike bus in our schools here! We know you don’t like those looong drop off and pick up lines, this could be a great alternative!

Some kids start the school day alone in the back seat of a car. Some start it surrounded by neighbors, music, laughter, and adults cheering them on.

That’s a bike bus.

How does it work?

Kids gather at meeting spots around the neighborhood and ride to school together along a planned route led by adult volunteers. What started with one PE teacher in Portland has spread to communities all over the world because it turns out a lot of kids are hungry for exactly this kind of connection.

Not only does this help children get to school safely and give them fun, good exercise, but kids get to feel like they belong somewhere.

They arrive at school already energized, already connected, already feeling seen.

And the beautiful part is that this doesn’t require a massive program or a huge budget. Sometimes it just starts with a few adults deciding the trip to school could be something more than traffic and drop-off lines.

Would a bike bus work in your neighborhood?