May 2018 Board of Directors Minutes

Welcome and Introductions

Khandra opened the meeting and all the guests introduced themselves.

Special welcome to Chad from the National Kidney Foundation. He came to introduce the organization and see how we could connect on events.

Chad Stewart,

Development Director,

Heaver Plaza,

1301 York Road, Suite 209,

Lutherville, MD 21093,

Tel: 410-494-8545 Ext 439

Direct: 443-322-0377

Cell: 856-278-4445

chad.stewart@kidney.org

Resolution on 1518 W Baltimore Street

- Discuss the sale of 1518 West Baltimore Street to Social Impact Development
- George Motion to Table this request till the next meeting.
  - There are lots of questions including:
    - What does the developer want to build?
    - What is the status of the loan we took out to buy the building?
    - How much are we selling the building for?
    - What is the status of the State grant we have for the building?
    - What is the reason to sell now?
    - What control over the development will the community hold?
  - Lou 2nd – All in favor: The Motion Passes
  - Email questions to Khandra and Michael

State Revitalization Grant Applications

- Vote to add Paul’s Place Application for Culinary Training Program
  - Motion by Jane, 2nd by Nancy, All in Favor the Motion Passes
- Khandra reviewed all the projects and passed out the ranking sheet to each board member and reminded the committee members to consider the rankings base on the position of their committees not as an individual.
  - George recused himself from ranking the Playground and Waterpark application due to the connection with Bon Secours.
  - All board members completed ranking worksheet and gave to Elizabeth to tally the results which are:
    - Operating
    - Housing Support
    - Defensible Spaces
    - Small Neighborhood Grants
    - Facade Improvements
    - Retail Planning
    - Malachi Mill House
    - SoWeBo Sports Authority
    - Paul’s Place Culinary Arts
    - Bon Secours Water Park
    - Black Cherry Puppet Theater

Approval of the Minutes From April Board Meeting

- Corrections:
  - Jane was here
  - Diana was not
  - Karyn is spelled Caryn
- Motion by Jane, 2nd by George all in favor motion passes

Committee Reports

Governance

1. - - Main objectives:
      - Review by-laws
      - Review employee handbook
      - Develop policies that govern the board and committees
      - Improve communications
    - Identified policies to develop:
      - Internal communications policy: communication policies between committee chairs, members, and staff; how board neighborhood reps communicate with staff
      - External communications policy
      - Expectations of neighborhood board representatives
      - Evaluation of board members
      - Ethical or criminal behavior
        
        Censure
      - Training for new board members
      - Harassment policy
      - Personal conduct policy
      - Committee meetings policy
        
        Agendas, minutes, voting, decision-making
      - Committee events policy
    - Next steps:
      - Develop work plan in order to complete and adopt all policies before November 2018
      - Research better system for external communication (CRM and fundraising), e.g.:
        
        Nation Builder
        
        Flip Cause
        
        Sales Force
      - Begin drafting policies

Preservation

1. - - Current Projects
      - Protect, Acquire, Preserve, and Stabilize iconic or important structures
        
        1504 West Baltimore Street: in the foreclosure process hope to have site control in June. Hired Dr. Mary Ellen Hayward to research the property and the family for the purposes of developing a marketing document that will help us fundraise the project.
        
        1420 West Baltimore: the owner is stabilizing the structure and fixing the roof – it caught fire – they are fixing it again.
        
        Brick gutters retained on Calhoun St. during repaving – we should say thank you.
        
        Hollins Market: redevelopment is moving forward. CHAP hearing was May, 8
      - Neighborhood Stories
        
        We have a volunteer coming to work with us over the summer
        
        Curtis lead the walking tour – A Journey through Hollins – we’d like to see this expanded to all the neighborhoods and will be working with Dr. King of UMBC to see that it happens.
        
        We had a meeting with CHAP to discuss the historic portion of Carroll Park and discuss sharing more stories…did you know that it used to be a shooting and drinking club…How’s that for a combination? An axe throwing bar doesn’t sound so crazy now does it.
      - Mapping
        
        Elizabeth and I met with a sign, mapping, and branding contractor to establish some baseline costs for the purposes of grant applications – based on Pigtown Mainstreet project
        
        We met with Baltimore Heritage to discuss signs, maps, and stories.
        
        This will likely be a collaboration between Preservation and vibrant streets committees
      - Follow up
        
        2 letters still outstanding – 1 regarding demo that was planned but has not been executed and the 2nd regarding a developer that has damaged historic property both that he owns and that he doesn’t own.
        
        We reviewed that Alley gate design and CHAP has also reviewed it.
      - Motions
        
        None
      - Next Meeting
        
        Irish Railroad Workers Museum, 918 Lemmon Street May 21, 6PM. The meeting will focus on create a map to extend the Poe Spur of the Baltimore National Heritage Area’s walking tour – everyone is invited to attend with 10-15 locations for the map.

Vibrant Streets

1. - - Project Updates
      - Community Clean-Ups
        
        Next clean up scheduled for May 26th 9am for Union Square-Hollins Roundhouse-Barre Circle
      - Anti-Littering Campaign
        
        Designs were presented to committee for feedback, working out printing order with grant funds from last summer’s grants, will have roll out soon
      - Small Neighborhood Grants
        
        Grant applications were scored and awarded at last Committee meeting. Highest scoring applications for each neighborhood were:
        
        Barre Circle: Restoration of Gateway Lot/Sculpture
        
        Franklin Square: Beautification of vacant lots at 1300 block and 1800 block of W Saratoga St
        
        Hollins Roundhouse: Emergency repair of Black Cherry Puppet Theater Roof
        
        Mount Clare: mural along garages on S Carey St
        
        Pigtown: Beautification of Southwest Baltimore Charter School lot along S Carey St
        
        Poppleton: SAFE Center Hoop House/Farm
        
        Union Square: Union Square Neighborhood Signs
        
        Will make a more formal announcement once staff meets with each project lead to ensure that each awarded project can move forward
    - Next Meeting
      - May 23rd 7pm at Southwest Baltimore Charter School. Warhorse will be presenting their streetscaping plans for the area around Hollins Market – The Safety committee will be joining

Workforce Development

1. - - SWP 6-2-6 Community Resource Event was successful
      - 97 Participants
      - 227 Charges Expunged
      - We could do it again – might not need to be all night but should be non standard business hours perhaps 6-Midnight

Current Projects

Outreach to community members around workforce resources

JOTF and OFJ (Jobs Opportunity Task Force and Out for Justice) organized SWP626 Community Resource Fair: huge success and turn out

Follow up will be discussed at next meeting (tomorrow)

May Meeting: rescheduled until May 16th 7pm 1138 Hollins St

June Meeting: June 6th 7pm 1138 Hollins St. The Committee will elect a new chair

Other Meetings/Events

June 7th 10:30am-12pm Train2Work Open House at UM BioPark showcasing free, quality job training programs

Education

1. - - Current Projects
      - Ensure that every school in the Southwest Partnership area becomes a community school
        
        Committee members attended the National Community School Forum and learned a lot of valuable information
        
        Moving forward with placing SWCOS first year interns in three schools (Southwest Baltimore Charter School, Vivien T Thomas Medical Arts Academy, Steuart Hill) next school year to advance planning process. Schools will soon be starting to interview potential interns
        
        Continuing to identify funding resources for the program and developing partnerships
        
        Working with George Washington on ways to advance their community school initiative–should have more details by next board meeting
    - May Meeting
      - Reviewed focus group results from community school planning process of three schools. These will be shared with the participants and the public as soon as Elizabeth cleans up the formatting a bit
      - Discussed the 9 building blocks of a world class education system and identified those which were within the committee’s purview–ensuring that there is support for children and families before starting school and that those with the most need get the most resources the top two
    - Next Meeting: June 7th 2018 Vivien T Thomas Medical Arts Academy 100 N Calhoun St 7pm. Committee will be discussing details of the community school initiative plan
    - Other Meetings/Events
      - First You, Me, and Dreams Deferred event held May 12th–panel and discussion on the role of race and racism on education in Baltimore. Next events will focus on workforce development, housing, and health. Goal is to begin community conversations on this important issue.

Public Safety

1. - - Gates are moving forward

Commercial

1. - - Working on the façade improvements in the 12200 Block of West Baltimore Street –
    - Received $150K match from BDC

Housing

1. - - Housing Committee report for April and May. May 15, 2018
    - In April, we had a presentation by BNI Baltimore Neighbor, Inc. Their focus is Tenants Rights and Landlord Responsibilities. The hotline is 410-243-6007 Local for Baltimore or 1-800-487-6007. 9am-5:30pm. They offer free workshops that are usually 2 hours in length. They also sponsored a Resource Fair in Collington Square. There may be potential to partner with them to have a similar Resource Fair in Southwest Baltimore in the future
    - There was a presentation on the 20/20 campaign that lead to some discussion. Some tentative feelings were expressed that indicated some research needs to be done to clarify needs and SWP responsibilities.
    - Michael reported on the many grant proposals on the table.
    - The Aging In Place report explained the HUBS program. Housing Upgrades for Baltimore Seniors. There will be some future efforts to bring those services to the seniors in the SWP area. George Kleb talked about the lack of a Senior Center in our community and that the city has an obligation to provide one based on the Federal Title 3 Act established in the 70s. Further investigation is afoot.
    - Michael presented information of the properties that will become available from tax sales.
    - In May, we watched a brief YouTube video ‘From Redlining to Redline.’ It was a history lesson for us.
    - Then Jeff LaNue, from the Baltimore Green Network, told us about the upcoming projects in Franklin Square and Mount Clare. Roadblocks to the proposed park in Franklin Square include property acquisition and roadblocks to the proposed park in Mount Clare include acceptance from the B & O Railroad. They are seeking input from the communities and are interested in meeting with association groups.
    - There will be a meeting to further discuss a HUBS presence in our community on May 25. Stay tuned.
    - Michael reported on the status of applications and the tax sale properties.
    - It was suggested that we partner with BNI to have some workshops for tenants, but it was tabled until we have more time to think about it. It was also suggested that we invite someone to talk to us about laws for Landlord registrations and inspections.

Old Business

1. - None

New Business

Motion to Adjourn by Jane – 2nd by Beverly

Attendees

Start typing and press enter to search