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Baltimore Renaissance Seed Scholar Fund Winners FY 2010

Central Baltimore Projects

James Kelly

Central Baltimore Vacant Property Policies and Strategies

The intent of the project is to assess vacant properties policy and strategies

with regard to community development in the Central Baltimore neighbors:

Barclay, Greenmount West and Charles North. The report will include a

history of recent vacant property responses in Central Baltimore through case

studies of attempts to deal with particular vacant houses or lots. It will

compile aggregate and parcel-specific data presented in tabular and map

forms. Using this information, the report will provide analysis and

recommendations as to how the City and community groups can use vacantbuilding receivership, tax foreclosure and condemnation proceedings in

combination with bargain-and-sale transfers and the forthcoming Land Bank

Authority to fully realize the community development goals of each

neighborhood.

Stan Kemp

Ecological Assessment of the Lower Jones Falls: Moving Toward Charting a

Course for the Restoration

of Central Baltimores Natural Greenway

The Jones Falls is an integral part of the Central Baltimore landscape and is

uniquely poised to be the main natural greenway in a revitalized Central

Baltimore. As a starting point of inquiry, this project seeks to identify

challenges in restoring the lower Jones Falls through comparative assessment

of biological and physical conditions. Quantitative seasonal monitoring of fish

and macroinvertebrate communities, coupled with weekly monitoring of

physical conditions and water quality, will be used to address questions

related to ecosystem and human health.

J. Howard Kucher

Baltimore Storefront Business Support Program

The proposed Baltimore Storefront Business Support Program will design an

integrated series of non-credit courses that will provide business technical

assistance to storefront and street level businesses in and around the Charles

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Street corridor. This program will develop the entrepreneurial dynamism of

the Station North/Charles North neighborhoods by providing growing

businesses with the tools needed to thrive and succeed, creating an

atmosphere of business success and economic stability. The program will

use the existing capacities and relationships of the University of Baltimore,the Entrepreneurial Opportunity Center, and the surrounding neighborhoods

to develop a program that will serve the specific and unique needs of small

retail businesses located along Charles Street. The first year of the program,

which will coincide with academic year 2009-2010, will serve as a pilot

program for what will become a series of courses offered on a regular basis to

assist in the increased success of the business of the Charles Street corridor.

Paul Sturm

The Baltimore Song Project

This project will actively engage students from the University of Baltimore

and our fellow members of the Central Baltimore Higher Education

Collaborative in developing visual and performing arts representations of the

images in the Baltimore song written and performed by Baltimore

musicians Saleem Heggins and Caleb Stine. The songs message is one of

hope and pride about everyday life in Baltimore. The projects outcomes will

include a traveling exhibit visually representing the song that will initially by

shown and secure a permanent home in Central Baltimore, a dance/theatrepiece performed in Central Baltimore and, possibly, a booklet based on the

research being conducted by UB students in CECS 100 (Urban Solutions) as

part of Learning Community III.