Community Ecology Institute

The Community Ecology Institute is a 501c3 non-profit with a mission to foster socially and ecologically healthy communities by enhancing diverse connections between all people and the natural world. Our vision is for a world in which people and nature thrive together. CEI’s emphasis on connecting people with nature is based on extensive research on the positive impacts of spending time in nature on personal health, family and community well-being, and the development of long-lasting environmental stewardship behavior. CEI is uniquely focused on tangible community level change that emphasizes the use of civic ecology practices—community-based, environmental stewardship actions taken to enhance green infrastructure, ecosystem services, and human well-being—to achieve socio-ecological goals. We locally demonstrate our recommended practices in Howard County and are creating resources for communities (e.g., counties, cities, towns) and community-based organizations (e.g., school systems, civic groups, etc.) to effectively engage the people they represent in achieving their own social and ecological benefits from nature engagement.