Whittier-Monroe Community Neighborhood Association
“The right people getting the right information”
August 18, 2009 - Baltimore, MD-- A few blocks south of The Mondawmin Mall is a wonderful neighborhood called Whittier-Monroe. Flowers burst from flower boxes in the summer and spacious and well-kept porches show off graceful row homes. The residents are a vibrant group of older and younger homeowners, many of whom grew up in the area. The 150 homes are located within Gwynns Falls Parkway to the North, Reisterstown Road to the East, Pulaski Street to the West and Windsor Avenue to the South. Though the community association was started in 1981, as time passed, the community association was in name only.
Until 2005 when Pat Briscoe took the association reigns and off to the track they went!
Pat realized that if the residents didn’t re-group and re-energize, changes may take place that could tarnish the community’s charm. Pat Briscoe, the current association president, states their mission best, “This neighborhood is our pride and joy and we work together to maintain a clean, safe and healthy community.”
Each year the association applies for neighborhood beautification grants through the Baltimore Community Foundation and buys flowers for every association homeowner to plant in their large cement flower boxes; the boxes are built into the porch structures.
In support of Mayor Dixon’s Cleaner & Greener effort the association purchased yellow recycling bins for neighbors to buy and recycling has increased. The association partners with the City to keep alleys and streets clean. Every fall and spring, the association takes part in the City’s clean-up and over 150 neighbors work to keep the neighborhood tidy. A quarterly newsletter, edited by Pat’s daughter, keeps all neighbors abreast of important news and programs in their neighborhood.
And, don’t forget to buy your raffle ticket for the big “crab feast” fundraiser the association holds each year! By working together with neighbors, churches, businesses and government, the residents of Whittier-Monroe have brought attention, resources and support to their neighborhood.
Nehemiah Homeowners to “Clean, Green, Safe and Healthier”
August 10, 2009 – Baltimore, MD – Clayton Price has decided to take matters into his own hands. He is organizing the 23 houses on the 1200 block of Whatcoat Street in spite of the fact that the community association has not yet reorganized.
Last year he missed the deadline for competing in the Afro Clean Green Block Contest. So this year he was not going to be left behind. So he registered the 1200 block of Whatcoat St. and is getting all hands on deck for a major clean up and beautification on Saturday, August 15.
Mr. Price expects 15 to 20 people for the clean up effort. He has a very persuasive personality. If not enough people show up, he’ll be on his bullhorn going up and down the street!
“We help the City out by cleaning our own block and sweeping the gutters, so they don’t have to send the mechanical sweeper around,” said Mr. Price. “We petitioned the City so that we could have parking on both sides of the street at all times”. This partnership has served both the City and the community very well.
As part of the clean up, flowers will be planted as well as tree grates and water meter covers painted.
“We had a small problem with rats,” said Mr. Price. “But my neighbor and I decided to fight them. We bought our own supplies and we are winning the battle”.
Mr. Price and his neighbors on the 1200 block of Whatcoat St. demonstrate how much you can accomplish when you work together! We wish them good luck with the contest!
Union Square’s Trash Can Initiative – Bringing the Community Together
August 4, 2009 - Baltimore, MD-- Union Square's trash can initiative is a three-part program with an overall goal of full compliance within their boundaries of all city trash laws. “However, the by-product of relationship building that takes place everyday when the Union Square Association’s board and Youth Council are out in the community promoting their vision for Union Square is what makes the program a success” says Christopher Taylor, President of Union Square Association. The residents are becoming excited about the progress they see and are becoming ambassadors on their blocks promoting, cleaning and improving Union Square.
The first part of the initiative involved offering free trash cans to anyone in their neighborhood that could not afford their own trash can. To ensure that their cans had the best chance of "survival" and to promote community pride, they worked with their youth council to stencil the cans with the Union Square name and logo and the address of the property. They attached the lids to the cans with rope. As a launch for this part of the program they targeted the toughest street and gave the entire five blocks free trash cans on the same day. To date they have provided over 115 free trash cans. These cans were paid for through the associations internal funds. However, they received a discount from their local hardware store whose owner also donated 15 free cans to their efforts.
The second phase involved extending the same discount that the association received to all residents who could afford a can and offered to stencil their cans with the logo, their address and to attach the lids for free.
For the third part of their program, Union Square Association will offer free recycling bins to anyone in the neighborhood who is willing to use the cans for their intended purpose. This part of the program will be paid for through a grant received from the Mayor's office and through matching funds provided by Union Square Assoc.
In addition to hard work, events such as Movies in the Park (free to all), and the fostering of the Youth Council allow the association to build trust and buy in and ultimately is the backbone of any initiative and any healthy neighborhood.
Sharp-Leadenhall Committed to “Clean, Green, Safe and Healthier”
Betty Bland-Thomas, President, Sharp- Leadenhall Homeowners Association, is very clear on their mission: to create a “Clean, Green, Safe and Healthier” community. “We know our health is a factor in our environment” said Betty. “People have more respect for the place when we are stewards of our own space”.
This is the second year that Sharp Leadenhall is entering the Afro Clean Green Block Contest – last year they were one of the finalists, but this year they plan to win!
Betty Bland-Thomas knows that people don’t want rats, trash, dumping or loitering which is why she applied for a Baltimore Community Foundation “Mobilization Grant” in 2004, shortly after she joined the board of the community association. They got the grant for their “Flower Pot Initiative” and purchased 50 flower pots, soil and plants and advertised to the community that they were free just as long as they signed a consent form to take care of plants and attend a beautification exercise. Well, people lined up and the kids got involved.
As part of the Afro Clean Green Block Contest, Sharp Leadenhall residents will, in addition to having a flower pot in front of every home, a flower pot on every corner, jointly keeping them watered, weeded and trimmed. “The community really pulls together, and people are smiling, engaged with each other and the visitors who come through respect our space” states Betty Bland-Thomas.
Since 2004 Sharp Leadenhall has a beautification committee. They conduct monthly clean-up of 18 blocks as well as their beautiful community green space, Solo Gibbs Park, next to M&T Stadium. Today, vacant lots are now green space and rarely does any dumping occur.
Team John Wesley Takes the Community
July 14, 2009—Baltimore, MD. It is the summer of 2009 and Baltimore City will be cleaner and greener than ever before. The 2009 Clean Green Block Contest Corner will start on July 17th, 2009 and conclude on June 23rd, 2009. The participating blocks in the contest compete to see who can beautify their neighborhood the most. This year even more teams will be entering the competition to beautify Baltimore. Team John Wesley Team is made up of a North East Baltimore community church that is dedicated to serving the residents of its community spiritually and socially. Through a youth work group entitled “Chain Reaction”, who cleans up the area once a month, Minister Moses Stevens (Team Leader & Minister of AME Church) was inspired to take action himself. Through seeing the work done by “Chain Reaction”, he decided to develop a team within the church members with hopes of the community members making a difference in their own community. Team member and Church Minister Nicole Batay stated “we simply just want to pick up all unnecessary trash and make this place better for the senior residents”.
Team John Wesley mostly consists of workers between the ages of 25 through 30. They also have about 3 youth workers on there team. With the starting date of this year’s contest rapidly approaching; team John Wesley is highly anticipating a Cleaner and Greener Community throughout the summer.
One PLUS ONE Outreach
Public Works Director David E. Scott, P.E., announced today the start of a door-to-door effort to get the word out to Baltimore City residents about new One PLUS ONE collections and schedule changes that will take effect beginning Monday, July 13, 2009. “We are sending out over 178,000 postcards to every address in Baltimore City and we are going to make telephone calls to let citizens know that what they put out for collection and when they put it out has changed. This is the most major change in sanitation collection in Baltimore in decades and we need to use every means necessary to get out the word.”
As part of that effort, 80 YouthWorks participants from DPW’s Bureau of Solid Waste will distribute flyers announcing the new changes throughout the Hamilton and McElderry Park neighborhoods on Tuesday, June 30 and Thursday, July 2, respectively. According to Hope Williams, a Public Works Core Leader for the YouthWorks Program, “This is part of a hands on effort for these kids to support the One PLUS ONE initiative. Our Summer Program aims to provide a well-rounded work and educational experience for our students. As they are learning, they are educating members of the community on proper waste disposal, what to recycle and how and when to put out trash and recycling. Their contribution this summer is a big community engagement component of our efforts.
As we go door-to-door, we will be looking to identify Clean & Green Ambassadors to serve as block captains to alert their neighbors as to the appropriate trash and recycling days. We will also have Youth Team Leaders to assist with identifying missed bags of trash or illegal dumping issues in the communities.”
YouthWorks provides well-prepared, multi-skilled, and dependable high school and college students who are eager to work. While the program benefits youth by allowing them to explore careers and better understand the value of education, it also enriches businesses by giving them access to a talented and energetic labor pool of motivated workers. For information on YouthWorks, call 410-396-5627 or visit summerjobs@oedworks.com.