High Street Strategies

03/28/2025

Congratulations to Marissa Merculieff from our client, the Aleut Community of St. Paul Island Tribal Government! On Tuesday, Marissa received her 2024 Catalyst Award by Rachel’s Network.

This award could not have been given to a more deserving person. Marissa is a fierce advocate for her community and so much fun to work with.

From all of us at High Street, Congratulations, Marissa!

01/13/2025

Meet Rosa Hance! As a consultant with the High Street Strategies team, Rosa brings diverse experience to her strategic thinking stemming from her career path spanning from education, government, non-profit, and environmental advocacy sectors.

Rosa enjoys serving her community as an active board member and was most recently appointed in 2023 by Governor Wes More to serve on the Critical Area Commission for the Chesapeake and Atlantic Coastal Bays. Rosa enjoys being outdoors in all her free time and loves kayaking, hiking, gardening as well as being a youth baseball coach for her kids. If you see Rosa around Annapolis, introduce yourself and say hi!

12/16/2024

Meet Erin Gaines! Erin is a government affairs, policy, and advocacy specialist with more than a decade of experience working on federal policy issues. On Capitol Hill as Senator Ron Wyden’s Natural Resources Counsel, Erin focused on public lands, oceans, forestry, outdoor recreation, and agriculture issues and staffed the Senator on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Since joining the High Street Strategies Team, Erin works hard for her clients in developing policy recommendations and advocacy strategies, analyzing legislative language, monitoring federal processes, and engaging with Congressional and Administrative offices on her clients' priorities.

Erin recently moved back to the DMV with her husband and two daughters after six years in Portland, OR, and on the weekends you can find her exploring the outdoors in Northern Virginia by bike, hike, or playground.

12/02/2024

Meet Jarryd Hawkins! Jarryd has spent his career working in legislatures on the local, state, and federal levels of government in Maryland and Washington D.C. This has allowed Jarryd to work on a diverse range of issues, including local land usage and zoning, economic development, state capital budget, clean energy development, industry establishment, and small business issues.

Jarryd recently became a father to a beautiful baby girl and lives with his wife and family in Bowie, Maryland.

11/15/2024

Meet Norah Carlos! As a senior associate, Norah serves as a project manager for multiple clients, supporting strategic planning, advocacy coordination, and identification of federal funding opportunities. Norah leads and organizes client fly-ins to Capitol Hill, maintains key Congressional relationships, facilitates stakeholder lobbying meetings, and provides guidance in materials preparation.

Norah holds a M.S. in Environmental Science & Policy from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. She now lives in Richmond, Virginia with her dog, Minnow, where they enjoy spending their free time on the James River and the Chesapeake Bay.

10/30/2024

This month, a new Maryland law went into effect that High Street, our clients, and their coalition worked on during the 2024 Maryland General Assembly Legislative Session. The Clean Water Justice Act restores protections for waters and wetlands previously covered by the Federal Clean Water Act that were endangered by the Sackett vs EPA Supreme Court decision. Thanks to the legislative sponsors, House and Senate leadership and governor’s administration for recognizing the importance of this crucial protection and working hard for the people of Maryland.

Pictured in the Maryland State House: May 9, 2024, Jarryd Hawkins and Rosa Hance of High Street Strategies proudly attended a bill signing for the Clean Water Justice Act alongside a group including Waterkeepers Chesapeake, legislative sponsors Delegate (now Senator!) Sara Love, Senator Malcolm Augustine, Senate President Bill Ferguson, Speaker of the House of Delegates Adrienne Jones and Governor Wes Moore.

09/25/2024

Congratulations to our client, Marissa Merculieff! Yesterday, Marissa was announced as a 2024 Catalyst Award winner by Rachel’s Network, a 501c3 nonprofit named in honor of Rachel Carson, dedicated to supporting a community of women at the intersection of environment, philanthropy, and women’s leadership who exchange ideas and act on our planet’s urgent challenges. The award honors women leaders of color for their commitment to a healthy planet, and provides them with financial support, wraparound leadership services, and public recognition.

This award could not have been given to a more deserving person. Marissa is a fierce advocate for her community and one of our favorite clients to work with. As a tribal member of the Aleut Community of St. Paul Island, Marissa was raised on St. Paul and grew up in a commercial halibut fishing family. She remains deeply connected to the island through her employment by the tribal government and her family. As the Director of the Office of Justice and Governance Administration, Marissa works closely with tribal leadership to represent the Tribal Government on a national level and leads the tribe’s efforts to build and enhance self-governance, economic strength and stability, and secure health and welfare resources for the Aleut people residing on the remote Bering Sea island.

In addition to her work with the tribe, Marissa is also an active member of the Climate Strong Islands Network and sits on the policy subcommittee, helping to inform the network’s policy priorities.

From all of us at High Street, Congratulations, Marissa!

03/08/2024

07/20/2023

to the April ribbon cutting of the first phase of Henderson Crossing a new, contemporary community of townhomes offering historic tax credits, in the heart of East Baltimore’s revitalization. Dozens of families are moving into Baltimore City to live in beautiful new houses on previously blocks of vacant homes. Hearing remarks about scaling up these types of projects to transform Baltimore from Mayor Brandon M. Scott, Comptroller Brooke Lierman, State Senator Cory McCray, DHCD Secretary Jacob Day, and City Council President Nick Mosby inspires us as we represent Cross Street Partners at the Federal level and in Baltimore City.

07/06/2023

On July 1st, we joined our client Trulieve; Maryland elected officials; Will Tilburg, the Acting Director at Maryland Cannabis Administration; and Jacquie Cohen Roth with CannabizMD to celebrate the historic day of sales of adult use of cannabis in Maryland! We appreciate Governor Wes Moore's continued leadership in developing a safe, fair, and equitable recreational cannabis market and look forward to continuing our years of work on cannabis policy. Please see Trulieve's press release: https://lnkd.in/eMvjDEA4

06/29/2023

Last week, High Street lead Protect Our Winters around the Hill for constructive conversations focused on clean energy legislation, expansive climate policy, and transmission infrastructure. Thank you to all POW Alliance members who traveled far and wide to participate! Our team is always impressed by this exceptional group of advocates! Thanks for an awesome week POW!

05/26/2023

We’re only 1 week away from our CSIN National Policy Webinar!

On Thursday, June 1st from 4-5 PM EST, High Street Strategies will share an update on CSIN's ongoing policy efforts. Join the virtual discussion to help inform and improve policies that support island needs and opportunities.

Register today! https://www.eventbrite.com/e/climate-strong-islands-network-national-policy-update-webinar-tickets-640580913757