Baltimore City’s story is no different than many across the country; a shrinking tax base and battered budget. Yet with the help of community organizations, residents are rising above. Providing education, services, development opportunities and, even, a place for kids to play doesn’t come easy for these underfunded and understaffed neighborhood groups. Still, as evidenced by examples—901 Arts, Friends of Our Playground at Stadium Place and Coldstream-Homestead-Montebello Community Corporation—there may be hope for Baltimore’s urban renaissance yet.
Stories
Drawing on Limited Resources: 901 Arts Finds a Way for Children
of Better Waverly
Since 2006, 901 Arts has provided children of East Baltimore’s Better Waverly community after-school and weekend arts education. In 2010, nearly 25 percent of Better Waverly children came through their doors. Though despite the program’s continued success, Director Sarah Tooley’s funding is about to run out. Read the entire story.
Baltimore’s Most Popular Playground Gets by with Help from Friends
Once destroyed by fire, and now in the shadows of a September murder, Our Playground at Stadium Place needs its friends more than ever. Enter Debra Evans and the group Friends of Our Playground. Providing a safe play space for children, without city funding or full time staff isn’t easy, but it’s a challenge these “not too quiet people” are ready for. Read the entire story.
Watch for Flying Discs: Coldstream-Homestead-Montebello Community Corporation Brings Disc Golf to Baltimore’s Lake Montebello
Blood, sweat and volunteers: it’s how they do it at Coldstream-Homestead-Montebello Community Corporation. With a grant from Baltimore’s Healthy Neighborhoods program, the group has brought more than a second disc golf course to Baltimore; they’ve introduced new community stewards to a neighborhood poised for revitalization. Read the entire story.
Multimedia
Children from 901 Arts have completed ten storm drain paintings—aimed at reducing pollution in their neighborhood and the Chesapeake Bay. Six more are planned. View a map of the 901 Arts Storm Drain Project.
Opportunities for friendship, parental bonding and physical development are everywhere at Our Playground at Stadium Place. Voices of children have replaced roars of a crowd at this previous Memorial Stadium site. See what it’s like for a child at the playground.
As Lake Montebello becomes only the second disc golf course in Baltimore, residents begin to pick up the lingo of the sport. The new course has an area for both children and adults: 24 holes in total. Learn the language of Disc Golf or explore the course map.
