Community

Did you know Americans volunteered nearly 6.9 billion hours in 2024? The fabric of our communities is woven together through the service of volunteers. Ordinary people step up to support neighbors, friends, and strangers with needs both great and small because they understand the power service has to transform lives for the better. At Plisko Sustainable Solutions, LLC we value our community – from home base in Catonsville and the greater Chesapeake Bay region to the nation and beyond. We incorporate community service into our model of operation. It is part of who we are. We provide mentorship to emerging professionals, have created a mentor/mentee match program, are active on boards and committees, and help provide sustenance to our neighbors.  

Community Service

From across the region to up the street, Joan has spearheaded and participated in programs and served on boards as a civic and professional duty:

Joan currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Watershed Public Charter School and is a member of Baltimore County Local Health Improvement Coalition’s Subcommittee on Climate and Health. She has completed terms with Pearlstone, Catonsville Women’s Giving Circle, and the Baltimore Tree Trust. Plisko Sustainable Solutions, LLC is a founding member organization of the Baltimore County Sustainability Leadership Coalition. It was an honor and a privilege for Joan to serve on the Chesapeake Bay Trust Diversity and Inclusion Committee for four years.

Joan, formerly known as the Garbage Queen, took great pride when she served on the Board of Directors for the Maryland Recycling Network whose mission is to promote sustainable reduction, reuse, and recycling in Maryland. Joan also served on the Maryland Department of Health’s Medical Waste Workgroup.

At its inception, Joan served as the founding chair of Baltimore County’s Commission on Environmental Quality. From 2019 through 2021 Joan again served the CEQ in its mission to encourage protection and preservation of the natural environment in the County and its waterways, including the Chesapeake Bay. Joan served on the Board of Directors for NeighborSpace of Baltimore County, is a member of the Baltimore County Green Alliance, and previously served on the Committee of Principles for Builders for the Bay Roundtable Initiative.

For Baltimore City, Joan was an active participant in the Department of Planning’s Disaster Preparedness and Planning Project (DP3) as well as the Department of Public Works Storm Water Advisory Committee.

An ardent believer and practitioner of the phrase Think Global, Act Local, Joan founded the Green Club in her children’s elementary school in, started the Trash-to-Treasure aspect of the annual neighborhood clean-up day, formed a wind energy buying cooperative, spearheaded and continues to operate a local farm egg buying collective (for over a fifteen years), and has been an member of the Catonsville Women’s Giving Circle since its inception in 2010.