II. 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
III. 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.
o 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?
o Lou 2 nd – All in favor: The Motion Passes
o Email questions to Khandra and Michael
IV. State Revitalization Grant Applications
● Vote to add Paul’s Place Application for Culinary Training Program
o Motion by Jane, 2 nd 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.
o George recused himself from ranking the Playground and Waterpark
application due to the connection with Bon Secours.
o 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
V. Approval of the Minutes From April Board Meeting
● Corrections:
o Jane was here
o Diana was not
o Karyn is spelled Caryn
● Motion by Jane, 2 nd by George all in favor motion passes
VI. Committee Reports
● Governance
o Main objectives:
● Review by-laws
● Review employee handbook
● Develop policies that govern the board and committees
● Improve communications
o 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
o 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
o 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 2 nd 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
o 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:
1. Barre Circle: Restoration of Gateway Lot/Sculpture
2. Franklin Square: Beautification of vacant lots at
1300 block and 1800 block of W Saratoga St
3. Hollins Roundhouse: Emergency repair of Black
Cherry Puppet Theater Roof
4. Mount Clare: mural along garages on S Carey St
5. Pigtown: Beautification of Southwest Baltimore
Charter School lot along S Carey St
6. Poppleton: SAFE Center Hoop House/Farm
7. 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
o 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
o 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
o 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)
o May Meeting: rescheduled until May 16th 7pm 1138 Hollins St
o June Meeting: June 6th 7pm 1138 Hollins St. The Committee will elect a
new chair
o Other Meetings/Events
● June 7th 10:30am-12pm Train2Work Open House at UM BioPark
showcasing free, quality job training programs
● Education
o 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
o 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
o 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
o 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
o Gates are moving forward
● Commercial
o Working on the façade improvements in the 12200 Block of West
Baltimore Street –
o Received $150K match from BDC
● Housing
o Housing Committee report for April and May. May 15, 2018
o 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
o 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.
o Michael reported on the many grant proposals on the table.
o 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.
o Michael presented information of the properties that will become available
from tax sales.
o In May, we watched a brief YouTube video ‘From Redlining to Redline.’ It
was a history lesson for us.
o 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.
o There will be a meeting to further discuss a HUBS presence in our
community on May 25. Stay tuned.
o Michael reported on the status of applications and the tax sale properties.
o 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.
VII. Old Business
● None
VIII. New Business
● Motion to Adjourn by Jane – 2 nd by Beverly
