Community Matters Highlights Baltimore Neighborhood's Innovative Approach to Development

The lat­est webi­nar in our Com­mu­ni­ty Mat­ters series, Com­mu­ni­ty Devel­op­ment From the Ground Up: An Inno­v­a­tive Approach in Baltimore’s Oliv­er Neigh­bor­hood, shares the sto­ry of a com­mu­ni­ty-dri­ven effort to reclaim and rein­vest in an East Bal­ti­more neigh­bor­hood — which is also the sub­ject of a new­ly released Foun­da­tion report.

Locat­ed just north of the Johns Hop­kins Hos­pi­tal and med­ical cam­pus, Oliv­er was once a sta­ble com­mu­ni­ty with stur­dy hous­ing stock, strong church­es and small busi­ness­es. Like many urban neigh­bor­hoods, it suf­fered a decline over sev­er­al decades. Today, signs of hope, progress and finan­cial invest­ment abound in Oliv­er, thanks in part to a mar­ket-dri­ven approach to build­ing hous­es, busi­ness­es and community.

Fol­low­ing the unrest that shook Bal­ti­more in April, the Oliv­er sto­ry offers pos­i­tive lessons on inclu­sive com­mu­ni­ty engage­ment for fun­ders, pol­i­cy­mak­ers and oth­ers work­ing to pro­mote com­mu­ni­ty development.

Watch webi­nar record­ing of Com­mu­ni­ty Devel­op­ment From the Ground Up: An Inno­v­a­tive Approach in Baltimore’s Oliv­er Neighborhood

Pan­elists:

• Ryan Chao (mod­er­a­tor), vice pres­i­dent for civic sites and com­mu­ni­ty change, The Annie E. Casey Foundation
• Bish­op Dou­glas Miles, Pas­tor, Koinon­ia Bap­tist Church, and co-chair emer­i­tus, Bal­ti­more­ans Unit­ed in Lead­er­ship Development
• Sean Closkey, pres­i­dent, TRF Devel­op­ment Partners

Check out our pre­vi­ous Com­mu­ni­ty Mat­ters webi­na­rs on eco­nom­ic inclu­sion, finance strate­gies for com­mu­ni­ty change, com­mu­ni­ty build­ing and res­i­dent engagement.