What we do
Our Focus
We all are fully aware and know the effects that gun violence is having on our communities, families, children, and surrounding neighborhood throughout Baltimore City being the epicenter of this epidemic. Gun violence is a 50-year problem in Baltimore City, this stems from years of the city neglecting the basic needs of its poorer populations and the lack of a strategic plan to put in place programs which can help impact and reduce the amount of gun violence on families living in these communities.
The West Baltimore neighborhoods of Penn North, Sand town-Winchester, Greater Mondawmin, and Druid Heights Area communities are exposed to a tremendous amount of stress and trauma stemming from addiction, poverty, homelessness, violence, incarceration, and racism.
These patterns reflect the disproportionate concentration of crime and violence in Baltimore communities is strongly influenced by gaping disparagement between whites and people of color and could not be further apart than they are today mostly disadvantaged and underserved populations exist.
Why must we accept this challenge ?
Safe and healthy childhood
Because every child deserves a safe and healthy childhood, no community can afford the costs of violence, because a healthier, safer community benefits each of us. Failing to act costs lives and resources, our children should not have to raise their children amid violence and finally because “It is everyone’s business” Violence holds victims, families, friends, and neighborhoods hostage ripping communities apart or prevents them from coming together.
We need a community where...
We need a community where all residents in West Baltimore neighborhoods of Penn North, Sand town-Winchester, Greater Mondawmin, and Druid Heights Area community have the opportunity for a higher quality of life.
Higher quality of life
There are several components that contribute to a higher quality of life, the strongest areas of concern are basic human needs, economic development, and education, but these and several other components are intertwined. One of the most notable is related to disparities and divisions.
Disparities
Disparities in health, education, criminal justice, and income based on race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and disabilities are on the rise among Baltimore’s residents. At the same time, there is increased political, racial, and economic polarization combined with diminished civility in public discourse.
How are going to address inequity?
Baltimore's black communities
In the wake of recent events, the disparagement between whites and people of color in this country could not be further apart than they are today. We need to begin peaceful and deliberate conversation which can help heal the greatest divide in Americans since the Civil War. Every city has an outrageous story of a person of color being mistreated and or killed by police, in Baltimore it is Freddy Gray. But this goes beyond one person in one City. As you assess the ongoing problems with guns and violence, remember the people, faces, and families who often have no choice in the hand they were dealt, and very few options to get “out” of their circumstances. This is a national crisis, but it lands on the front doorsteps of every City in America.
Equal rights
The division in equal rights, and equal treatment has been a problem for over 60 years in Baltimore with many generations being put down, kept down, and feeling powerlessness one after another. The specific problems in Baltimore are numerous.
There is a clear and even desperate need to restore the poor neighborhoods in inner-city of West Baltimore communities. However, this task is beyond the competence of the government. But that is not a fault in government—it is the nature of the problem. No one goes to the government for love.
Collapse of American cities
If the City Councils, the State of Maryland, or Federal cabinet members want to combat the social collapse of American cities, until that day comes the problems will only worsen, unless Baltimore looks to other institutions by restoring and providing linkages to education, rehabilitation, guidance, shelter, by partnering with powerful supportive services program that offers the citizen encouragement and provide the necessary support to take stock of the life experiences that have propelled them into criminal activity, taking responsibility for their criminal behavior, changing life-long patterns of violence and addiction, and build productive lives. Government is not capable of doing everything, and clearly does not know how to heal the social brokenness of such communities.
It will continue to fail the youth of inner-city Baltimore.
