Our Mission
To create and encourage infrastructural, economical, and community development initiatives, to promote public art installations, and to beautify, revitalize, and improve the wellbeing of all businesses and individuals in St. Mary’s County.
What We Do
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Our Impact
Here at St. Mary’s CDC, we believe in making a difference. Read below to learn more about the projects we have completed in Lexington Park!
Murals
St. Mary’s CDC partnered with St. Mary’s Arts Council to implement a number of murals located off of South Shangri La Drive in Lexington Park. Click through our projects below!
Lexington Park Alive! was the first mural project by St. Mary’s Community Development Corp. (CDC) in collaboration with the St. Mary’s County Arts Council. The CDC’s Art Park Committee held a contest for design submissions and the winner was Lynn Wescoe.
Completed in 2019, Lexington Park Alive! is located on the back of our office building behind Mr. Tire at the corner of Shangri La Drive and Great Mills Road.
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“Artist Rainbow” combines the faces of famous artists, speakers, poets, orators, a hip hop musician, a street artist, a Piscataway performing artist, and that very famous smiling portrait!
Roz Racanello, former St. Mary’s CDC staff artist, was inspired to design the collage after overseeing the installation of the corporation’s first mural Lexington Park Alive!
A competition was held to select four additional Maryland artists to work with Ms. Racanello on “Artist Rainbow” , those selected were Kailee Findlay, Caitlin Jones, Elizabeth Lopez, and Katia Meisinger.
Artist Rainbow was completed in 2019 and can be found on the opposite end of our office building from Lexington Park Alive!, by Ashley HomeStore.
Public art is never guaranteed to be permanent. Unfortunately, this wall has been repainted.
“Wings Across Lexington Park” was a portrait-height installation of wings from all types of creatures, the initial section painted in 2018 and an addition completed in 2020.
In early spring 2020, Ms. Racanello was compelled to create an homage to the nurses and medical workers battling on the front lines of COVID-19. Ms. Racanello’s nephew, a nurse on the front lines in New York, NY, was both the inspiration and the model for the artwork.
“Wings Across Lexington Park” was on Sale Center Lane, the alleyway between Ashley HomeStore and Amazing 2 Nails & Spa by the Great Mills Road/Shangri La Drive intersection.
While our public art initiatives work to improve the perception of Lexington Park, St. Mary’s CDC works with members of our community towards beautifying our town in other ways.
Annual Great Mills Road Community Cleanup
The annual Great Mills Road Cleanup event works towards our vision of a beautiful and thriving Lexington Park. The community’s efforts to clean up litter, pull weeds, clear sidewalk areas, and mow neglected grass by the roadway shows proof of our ability to work together for a common purpose – making Lexington Park a better place to live, work, and play.
Cleanup news
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Public invited to Paint Day at the Health Hub | Saturday, Nov. 4, 2023
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A Brighter Tomorrow: Second Annual Cleanup Achieves Remarkable Results with the Help of Dedicated Volunteers, Generous Sponsors, Supportive Partners
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COPs Unit, Three Oaks, Health Dept. partner with CDC for Great Mills Road Cleanup
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CDC partners with Arts Council & CPFCU for new Lex Park mural
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Call for Sponsors – 2nd Annual Great Mills Road Clean-Up
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Second Annual Great Mills Road Cleanup event set for June 3rd
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St. Mary’s CDC awarded $11,000 through Community Safety Works Program
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First Annual Cleanup a success
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Sign up to Volunteer
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Cleanup Incoming!
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Great Mills Road Clean-Up
CONTENT COMING SOON!
Patuxent Cove
Through partnerships with Three Oaks, St. Mary’s Housing Authority, and Conifer Realty, St. Mary’s CDC developed its first affordable housing community, Patuxent Cove, to offset just one of the many economic challenges some southern Marylanders face. Construction was completed in mid-2020.
The 60-unit mixed-income housing complex is located off of Pegg Road just outside Gate 1 of Patuxent River Naval Air Station. Units are one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments and are priced at market rate and at percentage of income.