Community Organizing

Community is paramount in our work because without people working together on issues, there are only the issues themselves. That’s why we bring the concept of community organizing to bear in our work. 

Social work has its roots in white supremacy and white saviorism. In that context, the idea of showing up to solve people’s problems doesn’t always respect their power and agency. We are determined to be different. 

Baltimore features a number of intersecting systems that negatively affect people’s health and well-being. They range from generational poverty to a lack of transportation and housing. These all combine with historic racism. We all live in a white supremacist culture. 

Many challenges people face are due to either lack of effective structures or systems designed to work against them. That’s why we listen deeply to the knowledge and wisdom of people. They are the ones who know their lives best. 

From there, we ask what change they want to see happen. People tell us what they want. Then, we work with them to imagine, design and implement it. We ask: What is their vision of a healthy community?

We meet residents where they are, centering their talents, gifts, skills, networks, and power. We lift up the value of their social connections. We spend time supporting families in this environment, building relationships that can be sustained over time. From the family support center to the church to the barbershop, we gather people in. People take the lead as they become more deeply engaged in working together and sharing the work with others.

In some of our programs, we have created stipends for local leaders who share information about the work and who facilitate some programming. We have worked with young men to mitigate violence. We’ve created microgrants for beautifying the community.  

To make restorative change happen, we create a space where we support families in flexing their strength to navigate these large systems. We see the challenges people face as they share the knowledge of what has happened not only for themselves but also for their families and communities, as they have tried to make lives work. 

Every resident has a role. Every relationship is critical. When we meet with each other in community, our first question is, “How are you doing?” We intentionally host spaces for neighbors to come together. Our best exchanges happen over food. We work with people to identify the barriers that they would like to see changed. People develop an understanding of why and in what ways they are taking ownership to improve the quality of their lives.