Following 18 years of pooled funding and strategic grantmaking for neighborhood revitalization, the Baltimore Neighborhood Collaborative (BNC) successfully concluded its operation and transitioned its work to partner organizations and an ongoing Community Investment Affility Group within Maryland Philanthropy Network in August 2014.
BNC contributed significantly to efforts to revitalize the city and its neighborhoods. With participation from 45 local and national funders, BNC awarded more than $8.3 million to strengthen community groups, foster citywide discussion, fund policy research, and launch new programs. BNC generated action on a range of issues including resident engagement strategies, strengthening the city’s "middle” market neighborhoods, sustainable homeownership, foreclosure prevention, and transit-centered community development.
BNC provide training support to prepare a new generation of community development practitioners and provided early support for new initiatives such as the Baltimore Neighborhood Indicators Alliance, Community Development Network of Maryland and Healthy Neighborhoods, Inc. BNC hosted the Baltimore Homeownership Preservation Coalition and transferred this role to the Maryland Consumer Rights Coalition. BNC was also a partner in the Baltimore Integration Partnership and the Baltimore Opportunity Collaborative
In its wind down, BNC awarded nearly $200,000 in final grants and training funds to support long standing grantee partners:
Comprehensive Housing Assistance, Inc.
Druid Heights Community Development Corporation
Garywn Oaks Northwest Housing Resource Center
St. Ambrose Housing Aid Center
With BNC support, the collective result is:
- 300 households avoiding foreclosure
- 190 home purchases
- Nine façade improvements on commercial corridors
- 31 new housing units created with another 40 in the pipeline
- Over 100 events and small block improvement projects. .
- Continued progress and investment in Central Baltimore, including the construction of The Centre at 10 E. North Avenue
BNC’s impact can be felt in communities across the city from Reservoir Hill to Greenmount West to Belair-Edison. Its legacy continues through the new affinity group, and through the nonprofit organizations, partnerships and initiatives it helped nurture and sustain.
