Greenmount East, Baltimore- A community social portrait

2018 Greenmount East, Baltimore A community social portrait

Ridhima Mehrotra URSP 673 | SPRING 2018 3/29/2018

Introduction Baltimore City is the most populated city in Maryland. It is the economic driving engine of the entire Baltimore Metropolitan area that comprises of five counties - Baltimore, Carol, Anne Arundel, Howard and Harford. Baltimore City has a long history of racial and economic segregation.

The growth and development that took place in last two decades affected neighborhoods in Baltimore differently, few of them are on the road to integrated development and are thriving with new businesses while many are still suffering the racial and economic disparities of past repercussions.

At present, Baltimore is composed of over 270 neighborhoods. For the simplification of data analysis, Baltimore City Department of Planning created Community Statistical Areas (CSAs). CSAs are clusters of neighborhoods, areas with similar social and economic characteristics and their boundaries are aligned with census tracts1. For this paper, I chose to sketch a social portrait of Greenmount East, one of the CSAs in Baltimore City. The portrait provides a statistical description of neighborhood and identifies key social issues and problems pertinent to this area, examining their roots through history, their impacts and present condition. Further, I will shed light on the community assets and the development processes that are currently taking place to strengthen the neighborhood. Also, I have used the terms “neighborhood” and “CSA” interchangeably in this paper.

Neighborhood Profile Greenmount East CSA is mainly composed of East Baltimore neighborhoods- Johnston Square, Oliver, and a small part of Broadway East. The historic Greenmount Cemetery occupies the Northern edge, Jones Falls expressway lines the West and Baltimore City Detention Center lies on the Southern edge of the neighborhood. Surrounding neighborhoods include Berea Area, Charles Village, Hopkins-Middle East, Madison-Eastend, Old Town Area and Reservoir Hill-Bolton Hill Area.

1

"Baltimore City 2017 Neighborhood Health Profile," June 2017, https://health.baltimorecity.gov/sites/default/files/NHP 2017 - 20 Greater Govans (rev 6-9-17).pdf.,30

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The neighborhood is mostly residential and includes many parks. The AMTRAK and MARC rail line bisects the neighborhood through its center where most of it is underground, see Figure 1 and 2.

The Baltimore City downtown, Baltimore Pennsylvania Station and Johns Hopkins University lie within 2-mile radius of this neighborhood.

Most part of Greenmount East is under The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) and The Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties (MIHP). It consists of The Johnston Square Historic District2, The Madison Square-Oliver Historic District3 and a part of Old East Baltimore Historic district4 and Baltimore East/Clifton Park historic district5. All these districts are primarily residential areas, featuring historic alley houses- two-story-two bay and larger row-houses built in the period between 1830-1930 and some small commercial, educational and religious structures.

Figure 1 Key map showing Greenmount East Neighborhood within Baltimore City

2

"Survey No. B-3957." Maryland Historical Trust State Historic Sites Inventory Form. Accessed March 18, 2018. https://mht.maryland.gov/secure/medusa/PDF/Baltimore City/B-3957.pdf.

3 "Madison Square-Oliver Historic District Survey No. B-3971." Maryland Historical Trust State Historic Sites Inventory Form. Accessed March 21, 2018. https://mht.maryland.gov/secure/medusa/PDF/Baltimore City/B3971.pdf.

4 "Old East Baltimore Historic District." National Register of Historic Places Registration Form. Accessed March 21, 2018. https://mht.maryland.gov/secure/Medusa/PDF/NR_PDFs/NR-1434.pdf.

5 "Baltimore East/South Clifton Park Historic District (B-5077)." National Register of Historic Places Registration Form. Accessed March 21, 2018. https://mht.maryland.gov/secure/Medusa/PDF/NR_PDFs/NR-1307.pdf.

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Figure 2 Greenmount East Neighborhood

Neighborhood composition6 According to decennial census, from 2000 to 2010, Baltimore City’s population declined by 4.6%, from 651,154 to 620,961. Greenmount East experienced the largest decline in population (29.2%) from 11,561 to 8,184 between 2000-2010 among all Baltimore neighborhoods. The predominant racial and ethnic group in Greenmount East is the African Americans (94.7%) in 2015

6

I have used the data and quantitative analysis provided by the Baltimore Neighborhood Indicators Alliance – Jacob France Institute (BNIA-JFI) to present the socio-demographic picture of Greenmount East and other indicators of health, housing, crime, workforce development and education. BNIA-JFI has used various community level indicators to track the quality of life in this neighborhood while obtaining data from various source such as the Decennial Census, 2011-2015 American Community Survey data, and many others.

BNIA. "Greenmount East." BNIA - Baltimore Neighborhood Indicators Alliance. Accessed March 19, 2018. https://bniajfi.org/community/Greenmount East/.

"Vital Signs 15." Baltimore Neighborhood Indicators Alliance. 2017. Accessed March 12, 2018. https://bniajfi.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/VS15_Compiled-04-12-17-08-41.pdf.

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that remained steady past 5 years. White population is 2.9%, very less as compared to the entire Baltimore city (28.1%), and it slightly increased by 1.3% from 2010 to 2015. There is also a 1% increase in the Hispanic population over a period of five years 2010-2015. Baltimore's racial diversity index is 55.5% in 2015 while the Greenmount East has a racial diversity index of 10.1% which is very low as compared to Baltimore City and it only increased by 1% in 5 years from 2010-2015. Slightly more than half of the population (53.1%) in Greenmount East is between 25-64 years age group whereas only 7% is under 5 years of age.

The average household size in Greenmount East in 2015 is 2.6. It has one of the highest percentage of female-headed households (83%) with children under 18 years of age among all neighborhoods in Baltimore City. This share significantly increased by 12% from the year 2010 to 2015 and is much higher than the overall percentage of female-headed households in Baltimore City (54%). Median household income is $23,626 which is the lowest among all neighborhoods in Baltimore City. It is extremely low as compared to the Baltimore City which is $42241 while the national median income is $59,039. In 2010, Greenmount East had 3115 households which declined to 2933 in 2015 by 5.8% and more than half of the households earn less than $25,000. Percentage of households living below poverty line is 25.8% which is higher than the Baltimore city (19%). The unemployment rate is 20.1% which is also very high as compared to Baltimore City (11.4%) and national average (5.3%)7.

Homeownership rate in Greenmount East is 28% which is the lowest in Baltimore City. It has a very high percentage of households that pay more than 30% of their total household income on mortgage and other household related expenses. Also, Greenmount East has a very low rent affordability. In 2015, 56% of households pay more than 30% of their total household income on rent and related expenses. The rent affordability decreased by 4.3% from 2010-2015.

7

"Unemployment Rates for African Americans by State in 2015." U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. March 04, 2016. Accessed March 21, 2018. https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2016/unemployment-rates-for-africanamericans-by-state-in-2015.htm.

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History Neighborhoods within Greenmount East originates back from late eighteenth century. The Greenmount Cemetery was created in 1838 and is historically significant because of large number of historical figures were buried here. The neighborhood has been residential since 1850’s with vernacular alley houses and row houses and some religious structures. There were few commercial establishments built along Greenmount avenue, a major thoroughfare, in the early 19th century.

Streets were designed based on hierarchical grid pattern, dividing blocks and creating service alleys8.

Early 1800 saw a surge of mostly Irish and German immigrants in the neighborhood. The presence of Cemetery and Catholic immigrants influenced the construction of many churches in the area leading to parishes. The immigrant congregations lived around these religious buildings. Many of them were employed in the transportation of goods, breweries, nurseries, tanneries, and slaughterhouses built along the Greenmount avenue which had horse pulled street-cars9. Few industrial uses were also found inside the blocks, mixed with residential as corner stores like cigar manufacturing, printing, tobacco warehouses etc. Period of 1870 ca. saw establishment of many churches around the Madison Square and Johnston Square that were responsible for enormous growth in working class white population and row houses across the Greenmount East10 and encouraged construction of public schools, library, bank, and a fire station11.

The course of events- Baltimore rights of 1861 during Civil War that ended in 1865, Great Fire in 1904, Great Migration 1914 and end of World War I in 1918 triggered the downfall of the neighborhood. Further discriminatory policies like segregation zoning ordinance of 1910 and other Jim Crow laws also worsened the neighborhood conditions. As a result, late 1920s saw a tremendous rate of African Americans pouring into the neighborhood. The Germans and Irish started moving out

8

Mazie, Amanda, "Urban Development in Practice and Theory: A Baltimore Neighborhood Revitalization Model and a UNESCO Framework" (2015). Theses (Historic Preservation). 585. http://repository.upenn.edu/hp_theses/585, 43 9 "Madison Square-Oliver Historic District Survey No. B-3971.", 11 10 "Old East Baltimore Historic District.",6 11 "Baltimore East/South Clifton Park Historic District (B-5077).", 31

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in the newly created suburbs and the vacated houses were taken up by the coming African Americans12. Parochial schools and churches closed and separated schools, restaurants, departmental stores, recreational facilities and health services were erected for African Americans13.

Population swelled, there was unorganized labor, division of skilled and unskilled jobs based on color and ethnicities, and gender-based division of work was also evident14. Great Depression of 1930 further worsened the existing situation and led to bank failures, crash in stock market. Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) in 1933 discouraged loans by redlining the African- American neighborhoods. It resulted in real estate racist strategies of blockbusting which left AmericanAfrican debt burdened and Greenmount East became a segregated neighborhood among many in Baltimore 15. Unemployment stemming out of the economic crisis heightened this crisis leading to decline in home-ownership. The neighborhood experienced high rates of poverty, crime and disease16. Few ghettos, also called blight and slum, sprang up in the South-eastern part of the Greenmount East. In response to Great Depression, New Deal was launched by President Franklin D. Roosevelt which started social safety net programs like unemployment insurance, social security, to help bring some relief. However, discrimination persisted and became embedded in the administration of these programs which were later criticized for their top-down administrative approach17.

The time of Civil Rights Movement, 1930s-1970s, marked a period of activism, campaigns and social movements like Black Freedom Movement and Workers Movement with slow economic recovery. The Housing Act of 1949 launched a new urban redevelopment program called Urban

12

"Survey No. B-3957.",12 Skotnes, Andor. A New Deal for All?: Race and Class Struggles in Depression-Era Baltimore, Duke University Press, 2014. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/umdcp/detail.action?docID=1173223.,31 14 Ibid.,26 15 Gomez, “Marisela B.. Race, Class, Power, and Organizing in East Baltimore”, 2015.,25 16 Ibid.,24 17 Hoffman, Alexander Von. "The Past, Present, and Future of Community Development in the United States."

December 2012. Accessed February 10, 2018. http://www.jchs.harvard.edu/sites/jchs.harvard.edu/files/w126_von_hoffman.pdf., 4 13

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Renewal and many blighted areas in the Greenmount East were designated for the Urban Renewal18.

Though a lot of row houses were demolished under this program, the lack of redevelopment efforts turned them into dumping grounds of trash, broken glass, and garbage bags. Civil Rights Act in 1964 outlawed racial segregation in public domain employment and public education. President Lyndon Johnson embarked War on Poverty with Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, that poured in funds and resources into communities to fight poverty19. By the time Supreme Court declared racial segregation law unconstitutional in 1967, the neighborhood was already devastated with no hopes of recovery.

Following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., major riots took place in April 1968 and there was looting, disruption and violence in Baltimore. Many businesses in Greenmount East, including Oliver’s only full-service supermarket were pillaged and burnt20. This event, along with World War II, increased bitterness for Germans, accelerated the white flight and middle-class residents, who could afford to move out. Fewer people were left, tax base decreased, schools declined. The government systems remained disinvested in the neighborhoods, in their physical maintenance, recreational and healthcare facilities and community services upkeep21. Jobs in factories and shipyard dwindled due to the shift of national and regional economies from manufacturing to services during the period of 1940-197022. With time, older people died out and the younger ones didn’t have the capacity to maintain homes. Vacant houses got converted to stash houses in the drug trade and drug mafia openly captured the street corners23.

18

Gomez, “Marisela B.. Race, Class, Power, and Organizing in East Baltimore”, 2015., 26 Parham, Lori, Jill Quadango, and Jordan Brown. "Race, Politics and Social Policy." In The Handbook of Social Policy, by Michelle Livermore and James Midgley, 263-75. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2009.

20 Hafiz Rashid, "Oliver Neighborhood Hopes East Baltimore Changes Spread," The Star Democrat, December 30, 2009, accessed March 21, 2018, http://www.stardem.com/news/statenews/oliver-neighborhood-hopeseast-baltimore-changes-spread/article_51f666ea-0814-52e0-8169-5b85fec67055.html.

21 Arnold-Garza, Sara, and Joanna Gadsby. "Social Justice and Baltimore: A Brief History." College & Research Libraries News. January 2017. Accessed March 26, 2018. https://crln.acrl.org/index.php/crlnews/article/view/9603/10994#b23-0780022.

22 "The History of Baltimore." The Comprehensive Master Plan. July 9, 2016. Accessed March 17, 2018. http://www.baltimorecity.gov/sites/default/files/5_History.pdf., 28 23 Rashid, Oliver Neighborhood Hopes.

19

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In the late 1970's and early 1980's, with the establishment of Maryland Historic Trust and with the help of Community Development Block Grants and Urban Development Action Grants, rehabilitation and restoration activities were increased in the Johnston Square District24. In 1975, the Johnston Square Community Development Corporation was established. During 1990-2000, the population kept decreasing leaving behind abandoned properties in Oliver neighborhood25. The situation of drug activity in Oliver worsened. In 2002 Dawson's family was firebombed which killed seven family members. It was a retaliation to Dawson’s police report informing about the drug activity in Oliver neighborhood26. This event awakened Oliver residents to unite and bring about a change in their neighborhood, the area inflicted by drug activity. In April 2015, riots happened in the West Baltimore following the death of Freddie Gray, an African American, who died in the custody.

Buildings were burnt and the governor declared state of emergency. The event spread across east Baltimore and a building at Gay street in Greenmount East neighborhood was burnt which is suspected to be connected with this event but not yet confirmed 27. This incident soured the relation between police and community.

The Civil Right Movement period was progressive. It secured legal rights, created new opportunities for American Africans, expanded the rights of women, people with disabilities and other minorities. It opened doors for African Americans in private businesses, government administration jobs, banks, local political party’s memberships and Council. Organizations for neighborhood stabilization, community groups, anti-poverty and black power popped up28. Despite

24

"Survey No. B-3957.", 15 Kelly, Jacques. "Oliver Neighborhood Praised for Preservation of Its Housing Stock." Baltimoresun.com.

August 11, 2017. Accessed March 18, 2018. http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-city/bsmd-ci-kelly-column-oliver-20170809-story.html.

26 Vozzella, Laura, and Laurie Willis. "Man, 21, Charged in Fatal City Fire." Baltimoresun.com. July 12, 2008.

Accessed March 17, 2018. http://www.baltimoresun.com/bal-te.md.fire18oct18-story.html.

27 Darcy, Oliver. "'This Is One of Our Darkest Days': Baltimore Gripped by Violent Riots After Man's Death in Police Custody." TheBlaze. April 28, 2015. Accessed March 17, 2018.

25

https://www.theblaze.com/news/2015/04/28/baltimore-gripped-by-violent-riots-after-mans-death-in-police-custody.

28

"1966–1976: After the Unrest." Baltimore's Civil Rights Heritage. Accessed March 23, 2018. https://baltimoreheritage.github.io/civil-rights-heritage/overview/1966-1976/.

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of this community development revolution that continued through 1990s-2000 and beyond, residents didn’t receive their fair part in community redevelopment. The neighborhood continues to struggle with issues of class and race discrimination and problems of uneven co-operation with law enforcement, drugs, crime and violence.

Present Issues & Challenges The present issues in Greenmount East are challenging, consequential and deep-seated given its torrid history. Social norms that treated the African Americans inferior to white people in all respect were prevalent before the Civil War, a time when white immigrants from Irish and Germany coexisted with African Americans. The post-civil war period was full of overt racism and discriminatory practices like redlining, blockbusting, minimum lot sizes, racial zoning, racial steering, and restrictive covenants.

These historical policies are responsible in perpetuating African Americans with low standard of opportunities and unequal access to housing, education, employment, entertainment, worship, transport etc. They have given rise to social issues of poverty, unemployment and crime leading to different forms of oppression and inequality. The existence of unequal opportunity within society lead to inequality which is a social problem. Everyone in the society has the right to access the social goods like education and job. Fair equality demands equal distribution of social resources that benefits everyone29. In this view, the past conditions and social practices are roots of the present social inequality.

Programs like New Deal intensified racial inequality and residential segregation. Social policies are instruments that guide positive change in a pluralistic society. If these policies will cater to the interest of only one individual or a social group, they will promote injustices in the treatment

29

Drake, Robert F. "Freedom and Equality." In The Principles of Social Policy, 43-59. Basingstoke, Hampshire,: Palgrave, 2001.

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of other social groups and demean the pluralistic values of society and their choices30.

Unfortunately, the past social policies only helped in reinforcing differences based on race and ethnicity that rose from social stratification before civil war and history of slavery in US. The inequalities leading to social division of labor, class structure and distinctions, sexual and racial oppression, resource deprivation and domination of White, all refer to four different forms of group oppression as described by Young31. They are- exploitation, marginalization, powerlessness and cultural imperialism which are clearly evident in this discussion as it involves issues of justice among the African American residents in this neighborhood.

Various social problems stemming out of inequality are reflective in the past and current data trends of the neighborhood demographics that suggest lesser likelihood of attending college, lower median incomes, higher share of income spent on housing rent and mortgage and increasing rate of unemployment and poverty. Housing market discrimination and other policies leading to race-based stratification in society over years left the neighborhood racially segregated and isolated.

The ills of segregation stagnated economic development, created vacant properties, originated crime, and resulted in overall poor health of the residents leading to poverty concentration in parts of Greenmount East. Based on 2010 segregation index, the Baltimore region is the 16th most racially segregated region among the 50 metro areas with the largest minority populations32. Greenmount East have concentrated African American population with a racial diversity index of 9.1 in 2010, lowest among the CSAs of the Baltimore City. In 2015, Greenmount East had a poverty rate of 25.8% while national poverty rate was 11.3%33 and Baltimore 19%. It also has a very high unemployment

30

Drake, Robert F. "Diversity, Difference and Change." In The Principles of Social Policy, 100-18. Basingstoke, Hampshire,: Palgrave, 2001.

31 Young, Iris Marion. "Five Faces Of Oppression." In The Community Development Reader, by James DeFilippis and Susan Saegert, 328-37. New York: Routledge, 2012.

32 "Baltimore Regional Plan for Sustainable Development." Baltimore Metropolitan Council. June 2015.

Accessed March 17, 2018. http://baltometro.org/phocadownload/Publications/OpportunityCollaborative/170508_Baltimore_Regional_Pl an_for_Sustainable_Development-June_2015.pdf.

33 Table S-1702, Poverty Status in The Past 12 Months Of Families, 2011-2015 American Community Survey 5Year Estimates

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rate. During 2011–2015, Greenmount East ranked the top five CSAs in Baltimore with the highest percentage of unemployed persons looking for work (15.9%) while 37.5% are not yet in labor force.

Most pressing problem in Greenmount East is the presence of vacant lots and properties, see figure 3. There are total 4088 residential properties in Greenmount East out of which 32.5% are

Figure 3 A Vacant lot and demolished property at Esnor street

vacant, highest share in Baltimore City and 20.5 properties out of every 1000 have demolition permit, again highest among all CSAs, see figure 4 and 5. Greenmount East also experienced largest percentage increase (31.7%) in median home sales prices between 2014 and 2015 in the Baltimore City. However, the median home sale price is $39,500 which is very low as compared to the city ($125,000). Lack of affordable housing options outside Baltimore City reinforces concentrations of low-income populations in Greenmount that further tend to limit opportunity. It leads to weakest private market conditions and high rates of vacant homes. These conditions undermine redevelopment and low-income households struggle to find housing they can afford in communities of opportunity. Presence of high rate of vacant lots and building in the neighborhood fuels the drug activities34 that affect both the social and physical environment of Greenmount East. In 2013,

34

Baltimore Regional Plan for Sustainable Development, 2015

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Greenmount had the third largest percentage (27.1%) of properties receiving a housing violation in Baltimore City. High vacancy rates are also a direct determinant of health issues, violence from drug use, unsafe places for children to play and adults to gather, rat infestation, illegal dumping and high rate of crime in the neighborhood.

Figure 4 Map showing percentage of vacant properties in CSAs of Baltimore City

Figure 5 Map of Greenmount East showing location of vacant lots and buildings

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Figure 6 Boarded up vacant properties on E. Lanvale Street

Figure 7 Vacant lot dumped with trash on Oliver Street

Crime is another serious issue in Greenmount East. It had one of the highest number of gun related homicides per 1,000 residents in the Baltimore city in 2015. It increased by 14.1% in one

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year, double of Baltimore city, that recorded an increase of 7.7%. Rate of Domestic abuse calls in this area is also third highest among all Baltimore CSAs in 2013, it is 70.9 out of 1000 residents. The density of alcohol and tobacco stores per 10,000 residents is 9.7% which is again double of Baltimore City (4.6%). In 2015, non-fatal shootings per 10,000 residents were almost triple of that in Baltimore.

Also, it has the highest percentage of the population 18 and older that are under community supervision including parole or probation in the Baltimore City.

Academic literature has pointed out that the neighborhood conditions have a large impact on the future economic mobility of an individual35. In an interview with the local newspaper, Baltimore Sun, one of the residents expressed her apprehension about the state of children in the neighborhood, “there were a whole lot of kids with a whole lot of nothing to do except destroy things”. The Greenmount East high school dropout rate is 7% that doubled in one year from 20142015 and is second highest in the Baltimore City. Number of students that attended 9th through 12th grade at any point in school year in Greenmount East public schools decreased by 11.8% from 2014 to 2015 whereas the Baltimore City recorded an overall decrease of 3.8% only. Share of students that were chronically absent in high school 9th-12th Grade were recorded second highest in Baltimore City. Even the percent of 6th-8th Grade Students that were chronically absent increased drastically by 33.4% from 2014 - 2015 that is double the increase in entire Baltimore City (15%). In 2015, juvenile arrest rates in Greenmount East were almost double of that in Baltimore City. Given the situation of neighborhood with vacant properties, illegal activities, crime and unhealthy physical environment, the prospects of better future of a child declines rapidly. The labor market, school condition and presence of other institutions in neighborhood environment affect the child’s making.

35

Sharkey, Patrick. "Neighborhoods, Cities, and Economic Mobility." RSF. May 16, 2016. https://www.rsfjournal.org/doi/full/10.7758/RSF.2016.2.2.07.

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Growing up in concentrated poverty makes it difficult for child to escape it which is apparent in the existing education trends of this neighborhood36.

Coupled with social ills of crime and poverty are the public health issues in Greenmount East, that range from high rates of infant mortality, elevated blood lead levels in children, to teen pregnancy and female-headed households. Life expectancy among Greenmount East residents is significantly shorter than in other CSAs of the city. In 2015, the life expectancy at birth in Baltimore City was 73.3 years while Greenmount had the lowest with 67.9 years. Greenmount East is also among the only four CSAs in the Baltimore City that have elevated blood lead levels in children between 0-6 years of age (6.3%). It is also among the five CSAs that have the lowest percent of babies delivered at term and born with satisfactory birth weight and highest infant mortality rate.

Only in 48.7% of birth cases, mothers received prenatal care in the first trimester. These are the consequences of poor medical aid and social service for prenatal care, lack of education and smoking during pregnancy. Greenmount East also has the fourth highest mortality rate (47.3%) by age group 25-64 among all CSAs in Baltimore. Negative health outcomes in Greenmount East are also the result of race and class oppression in the past. The living conditions, physical environment, housing, access to healthy food, school quality and safety are the prime social determinants for health. These determinants are mostly the reason of health inequities across neighborhoods in Baltimore37.

According to Maryland State Vital Statistics Administration 2005-2009 & the 2010 US Census data, the percent of avertable deaths in Greenmount, that could have been avoided if all Baltimore communities had the same opportunity at health, is 54.1% while for Baltimore City is 36.1%38.

The ills of social and economic policies and norms isolated and neglected many parts of this neighborhood which is clearly manifested in the poor education achievement, unemployment, low

36

Mayer, Susan E., and Christopher Jencks. "Growing up in Poor Neighborhoods: How Much Does It Matter?"

Science 243, no. 4897 (1989): 1441-445. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1703125.

37 Ames, A., M. Evans, L. Fox, A. Milam, R. Petteway, and R. Rutledge. "2011 Neighborhood Health Profile Greenmount East." Accessed December 2011. http://health.baltimorecity.gov/sites/default/files/24 Greenmount.pdf, 3 38 Ibid., 11

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quality of housing, unfavorable health outcomes and crime. The beginning of 21st century has been more productive in terms of community building, engaging people but the social issues of crime, poverty, racial discrimination are still pervasive in the entire Greenmount East and the challenge exists as to how to solve them.

Community Assets & recent developments Greenmount East boast of both physical and social assets. Notably, Greenmount East and the surrounding neighborhoods are engaged in process of neighborhood revitalization through a series of projects since past decade. This in turn has fueled the residents and other philanthropic organizations within the neighborhood to bring about a positive change, oriented towards capacity focused development. A capacity-oriented development consists of primary, secondary and potential building blocks. Primary blocks are the assets inside neighborhood and readily available that include individual and organizational strengths. Secondary blocks are assets in the neighborhood controlled by outsiders like non-profits, public institutions, land etc. Potential blocks are outside resources like welfare expenditures, public information etc.39 Greenmount consists of all these building blocks. The primary building blocks are the residents themselves who are very engaged with the community development work. It is due to their efforts that has made possible many redevelopment programs in Greenmount East. Rebuild Johnston Square is a group working to revitalize the Johnston Square neighborhood which is initiated by Regina Hammond, a resident. It was initially a small group involved in organizing trash cleanup days and community meetings to encourage neighbors to get involved, make themselves heard about their desires and motivated to take up roles in community development process.

Ambrose Kennedy Park which was a trash ground is now renovated with a swimming pool and two

39

McKnight, John L., and John P. Kretzmann. "Mapping Community Capacity." 1990. Ames, A., M. Evans, L. Fox, A. Milam, R. Petteway, and R. Rutledge. "2011 Neighborhood Health Profile Greenmount East." Accessed December 2011. http://health.baltimorecity.gov/sites/default/files/24 Greenmount.pdf,.

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basketball courts, see figure 9, with the help of Rebuild Johnston Square and Baltimore’s Parks & People Foundation40. At present there are plans for reviving Yellow Bowl restaurant by Chef Heather Smith which was historically founded by Greek- Americans in 1921. She is a resident of Johnston Square who wants to create a teaching kitchen along with restaurant to train neighbors in basic culinary skills. Artists are also engaged in art work, painting building facades, though it is not very much prevalent here, see figure 8.

Figure 8 Bidford's Deli & Cafe with art work on facade, Harford Ave

Figure 9 Ambrose Kennedy Park development in progress

Greenmount East has a great network of community organizations, non-profit developers that have come forward to fight the issues. They have initiated projects at grass-roots level that involve intensive community organization and networking with community institutions and municipalities to improve the condition. Oliver Community Association (OCA) is a very old community-based corporation and is engaged with the City of Baltimore in the East Baltimore comprehensive physical redevelopment plan. Johnston Square Community Development Corporation is also old which was formed in 1975. The 6th Branch is a local nonprofit that engages military veterans and utilizes their leadership and organizational skills to perform community service

40

Gantz, Sarah. "Growth in Johnston Square Is around the Corner - and inside a Shuttered Favorite Restaurant." Baltimoresun.com. September 17, 2017. Accessed March 17, 2018. http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-city/bs-bz-johnston-square-20170915-story.html?=.

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initiatives in Oliver. Other Non-profits in Greenmount East are Meraki Community Uplift, St. Vincent de Paul Society, Baltimore Community Development (YBC) etc.

One of the Baltimore City’s leading community organizing group -Baltimoreans United in Leadership Development (BUILD) has collaborated with TRF41 including the Annie E. Casey Foundation and other Baltimore philanthropic institutions to launch a homeownership program called project BUILD. Five neighborhood churches in Oliver helped to raise funding to acquire around 250 properties in this neighborhood for this project through the city’s tax sale process42 and helped build Preston Place, see figure 12, with 122 new, energy-efficient homes in Oliver43. Under BUILD, 320 homes were renovated in Oliver, see figure 11, and this project continues along Preston street, Greenmount avenue, in the Johnston Square neighborhood 44. The project has constructed around 230 new houses affordable to lower and middle-income families. Another aim of this project is to attract John Hopkins employees to the neighborhood45.

Apart from non-profit organizations, the secondary building blocks include several vacant lots in Greenmount East, a major asset. City is in a process to acquire these vacant lots that further could be awarded to developers for redevelopment. Their aim is to construct affordable and moderately priced housing that can attract new residents in the neighborhood while ensuring no displacement of people from the community. According to the TRF President Sean Closkey “homeownership can help stabilize a neighborhood, as residents take equity in the property and feel a stronger sense of responsibility to maintain the place they live.”

The department of Housing and Community development has launched Project C.O.R.E. or Creating Opportunities for Renewal and Enterprise to support community growth in Baltimore City,

41

TRF Development Partners is a nonprofit real estate LLC. based in Oliver neighborhood at East Preston Street.

42 "Building from The Ground Up." 2015. Accessed March 17, 2018. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED563809.pdf.

43 Rashid, Oliver Neighborhood Hopes.

44 Kelly, Oliver Neighborhood Praised for Preservation of Its Housing Stock.

45 Rashid, Oliver Neighborhood Hopes.

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and to eliminate blighted properties and encourage investment in these areas46. In its Phase I ‘Demolition of Blighted Properties’, it has awarded $450,000 to the TRF to demolish blocks along Preston E. in the Oliver neighborhood47. It is also providing funding for the Johnston Square Redevelopment project to the City of Baltimore for the process of acquiring buildings along East Chase and Valley streets in the Johnston Square neighborhood for demolishing. The new development by TRF here will have a share of rentable and saleable rowhouses priced for families that earn less than the median area income48.

Figure 10 Real estate development and public investment projects since 2010 in Greenmount East

46

About Project C.O.R.E.. Accessed March 10, 2018. http://dhcd.maryland.gov/ProjectCORE/Pages/About.aspx.

47 "FY17 Project C.O.R.E. Awards." Project C.O.R.E. Accessed March 12, 2018. http://dhcd.maryland.gov/ProjectCORE/Documents/FY17_CORE_Awards.pdf.

48 "Community and Economic Development Loan." Department of Planning. September 30, 2016. Accessed March 18, 2018. https://planning.baltimorecity.gov/community-and-economic-development-loan.

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Figure 11 Renovated homes under project BUILD along E. Preston street

Figure 12 Energy Efficient new homes built by TRF along E. Preston street

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Greenmount East neighborhood has access to a good amount of green open space49. It has many neighborhood parks - Johnston Square park, Ambrose Kennedy Park, newly renovated, and Madison Square Park. Recreation center is also a valuable resource for a community which provides both recreational and academic services. This neighborhood has two recreation centers that include Madison Square Recreation Center/The Dome and Oliver Recreation Center. The Dome is a covered basketball court with a strong historic presence in the community.

Greenmount East also saw development of urban farms that popped up in the vacant lots in the past decade. They produce food for local consumption in the neighborhood. These farms are managed by the residents, community development organizations and non-profits. 1100 block of Forrest St. is an urban farm and social space which was built in 2007 by Members of the Indypendent Reader- Scott Berzofsky and Nick Wisniewski. They collaborated with the residents in Johnston Square neighborhood to reclaim underutilized plots50. Similarly, Oliver Community farm was built in 2013 by the 6th Branch non-profit along with Oliver neighborhood residents and supported by Meraki Community Uplift51. In 2016, Baltimore Community Development along with Oliver residents established Bethel Farm, located in the 1500 block of Bethel Street52.

Apart from building farms, the community has invested effort creating socializing places for both kids, youth and seniors. One of the projects is the KaBoom playground, see figure 13. It is built by the children of Oliver community working alongside with families and teachers with the help of BUILD. The project was mainly funded by Target and remaining money was raised by the

49

"Baltimore City Land Preservation, Parks and Recreation Plan 2017 - 202." Maryland Department of Natural Resources. Accessed March 19, 2018. http://dnr.maryland.gov/land/Documents/Stewardship/BaltimoreCity_2017-LPPRP-Draft.pdf.

50 "Vital Plots: Converting a Vacant Lot into an Urban Farm and Social Space." Vital Plots: Converting a Vacant Lot into an Urban Farm and Social Space | Indypendent Reader. August 20, 2008. Accessed March 29, 2018. https://indyreader.org/content/vital-plots-converting-a-vacant-lot-urban-farm-and-social-space.

51 "Oliver Community Farm." Farm Alliance of Baltimore. Accessed March 19, 2018. http://www.farmalliancebaltimore.org/farms/oliver-community-farm/.

52 "Oliver Deep Blue Plan." September 5, 2017. Accessed March 18, 2018. https://www.bluewaterbaltimore.org/wp-content/uploads/DeepBlue_Oliver_20170905.pdf., 9

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community53. The 6th Branch and NDC54 partnered together to design and construct Bethel Street Playscape, see figure 14, that transformed an illegal dumping vacant lot into green and pervious landscape. It has offered an excellent place for the residents to gather and socialize, experience outdoors and nature55.

Figure 13 KaBoom playground along N. Bond street

Figure 14 Bethel Street Playscape

53

https://kaboom.org/play_matters/disaster_relief_crisis_recovery/baltimore NDC is Neighborhood Design Center, a nonprofit organization established in 1965 based in Baltimore.

55 Oliver Deep Blue Plan, 8 54

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Greenmount East also has a wealth of religious institutions. Some of them are Mount Sinai Baptist Church, The Ark, Knox Presbyterian, Memorial Baptist, St. Francis Xavier Catholic and Zion Baptist. They have helped the community by raising money for community redevelopment and rendering service to residents in need56. Educational institutions like Madison Square Elementary School is currently occupied by the Community Initiatives Academy, a private, religious school started by a local church. Greenmount East is also home to the Great Blacks in Wax museum at West North Avenue. It is the first wax museum of African-American history in the country and receives numerous visitors round the year57.

Conclusion Greenmount East is a neighborhood with deep and complex issues that has imprints of its past. The problems in Greenmount East are both long-standing and apparently intractable. Despite of its years of decline, neighborhood experienced slight increase in the racial diversity index, median household income, a considerable increase in the percent of households earning more than $75,000 and significant increase in overall student attendance and enrollment from 1st-8th grade.

The way to restore neighborhood’s health requires a long-term recovery process. City is focusing on laying the groundwork for a long-term investment to revive neighborhood that involves high-spirited involvement of the residents, stakeholders, social and religious institutions, civic and philanthropic organizations. Notably, access to social capital building institutions is great in this neighborhood. The partnership between the City and community residents is important and the bonding has begun through smaller initiatives. This would pave the way towards stronger bonding of trust and increase the residents’ willingness towards neighborhood improvement.

56

Building from The Ground Up, 6 Dacey, Kim. "National Great Blacks in Wax Museum Looks to Expand in Baltimore." WBAL. October 08, 2017.

Accessed March 19, 2018. http://www.wbaltv.com/article/national-great-blacks-in-wax-museum-looks-toexpand-in-baltimore/8990791.

57

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Even though the City is serious about refurbishing the neighborhood with affordable housing, this alone is not enough. The residents still lack access to good education, financial training and other support systems to enhance their skills. The city needs to create strong economic opportunities in this neighborhood that are presently missing. If new support systems flow in and lay out a blueprint to harness the potential of community assets and social capital of Greenmount East, this neighborhood can thrive and see a brighter future.

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