Optimal staffers pitch in for worthy causes

Press Releases

Date: November 13, 2014
Location: College Park, MD

2014 was a big year for reaching out to communities near and far for Optimal staffers. In Optimal’s own backyard, University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP)’s M-Square Research Park, which is co-located with the world’s leading earth and climate scientists, urban streams and parks need attention. Recently Optimal staffers took a no-cost historical and wildlife pontoon boat tour of the Anacostia sponsored by the Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission (MNCPPC). As a result, staffers returned to help with a recent river clean up this fall.

When confronted with the Ebola virus not only as a global citizen, but also as a firm who worked closely with the citizens of Liberia in 2012–2013, Optimal staffers took up a matching challenge by Optimal management and together raised a record $3,700 for the Doctors Without Borders organization. As Liberia gets on its feet, Optimal will be tasked with technical assistance for the U.S. Agency for International Development Feed the Future program.

Not only do staffers contribute to the fields of public and social policy, but directly give back. The following are efforts that management and staffers put their time, energy, and paychecks toward:

  • Anacostia River Watershed Society
  • Arbor Day Foundation
  • Bladensburg High School – Mentoring Program in Entrepreneurship
  • Chesapeake Bay Foundation
  • Coppin State University
  • Doctors Without Borders
  • Elizabeth Seton High School
  • Glen Burnie High School
  • Helping Up Mission
  • MNCPPC – River Clean Up
  • National Economic Association
  • University of Maryland, College Park–College of Education
  • University of Maryland, College Park–Economics Department
  • University of Maryland, College Park–iSchool
  • USO
  • Wounded Warriors