Member Sponsored Event: Tour of the West Baltimore Revitalization Project Area

This event is sponsored by Kaiser Permanente, member of the Maryland Philanthropy Network.

The designated West Baltimore Revitalization Project aligns the Community Health Needs Assessment goals of two major health care delivery systems, Kaiser Permanente and Bon Secours Health System, to rebuild the social, emotional, and economic fabric of 21223, the most depressed zip code in the State of Maryland and the City of Baltimore. This project will weave together 9 targeted programmatic and economic development initiatives and to mount a multi-pronged, solutions-driven approach to begin reversing the negative trends impacting the quality of life of residents in three targeted West Baltimore communities, Boyd-Booth, Fayette Street Outreach, and Franklin Square. The project will build on Bon Secours - Baltimore Health System’s solid track record as a developer of affordable housing and expand the scope and capacity of its family support nonprofit, Bon Secours Community Works. At the heart of the project is the creation of a Community Resource Center at the site of an abandoned library to house the expanded project programs and a new business incubator.

The one hour bus tour will start at 10:30 a.m. Maryland Philanthropy Network Members are encourage to begin assembling at 10:00 a.m. at BSCW, 26 N. Fulton Avenue. From there, the group will travel through the three targeted neighborhoods to see:

• BSCW’s Urban Farm;
• Various Bon Secours housing developments;
• The abandoned library where the group will hear about the plans for renovation and expansion; and
• The newly closed Samuel F. B. Morse School which is the proposed interim site for the project’s business incubator.

If time allows, the group will return for a brief tour of the BSCW facility to hear about current workforce development efforts and programming for returning citizens. Throughout the tour, the group will learn about project programming details, current project funding and funding opportunities, the project timeline, and definition of project’s proposed impact on key intractable community needs.

This program is for the Maryland Philanthropy Network members only.