Great Rehab Opportunity!

Looking for a rehab property in a great location? This one could be for you!

4 Unit, 3 story building. Property is vacant, mostly gutted, ready for rehab.

GREAT LOCATION: +/- 1/2 mile from Johns Hopkins University Main Campus and Union Memorial Hospital. 2 blocks from Waverly Farmers Market and across from recently built Giant supermarket. 3 blocks from Harry & Jeanette Weinberg YMCA at Stadium Place.

Unit 1: 3BR/1BA
Unit 2: 1BR/1BA
Unit 3: 2BR/1BA
Unit 4: 2BR/1BA

New owner needs to request reestablishment of zoning permission.

Please contact
Ursula Bowen at 410-746-2005
For terms & conditions visit
www.auctionbrokers.net

JHU to Host Science and Research Job Fair

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You're Invited! Stadium School Youth Dreamers Housewarming Party!

Written by the students in Youth Dreamer Project Class 2009

We’re the Youth Dreamers
We are a 501(c) 3,
We want to decrease the amount of violence
among youth in our community.

We are creating
a youth-run youth center,
open after school
all are welcome to enter.

We have a Board of Directors
and lots of friends,
that help us with our dream
and support us till the end.

There’s a whole lot
to our history,
we started in 2001
with $70,000 from Senator Mikulski.

We bought a house
and went through zoning,
we worked with an architect
who turned our dream into a drawing.

Now we’re in construction
and running programs after school,
it’s 2009
and soon our youth center will rule!

You’d be amazed
at what we’ve done
this year in Project Class
and it was fun!

We’ve been to My Sister’s Place
Shepherd’s Clinic, too,
had two huge service days
just to name a few.

Our after school programs
Modeling, Community Art,
Homework Club and Health Club
and that’s just to start!

From State Farm we got a grant
to fund our first real year,
we wrote it all together
It’s time to cheer!

This means a whole lot
for us and our community,
our youth center
will soon hold the key…

People will come
to work, play, and be,
to learn leadership skills
and more about the community.

We are so excited
to extend the YD’s history,
by moving into this house
it’s a brighter future for you and me!

We hope for our first year
to be busy and have fun,
with teenage employees
getting all the work done.

Adults volunteering and teaching
different classes going on,
playing on our new playground
and memberships lasting long.

We are having a Housewarming Party
and all are welcome to come,
On May 30th this year
to learn about us and have fun!


The Stadium School Youth Dreamers are a group of students in sixth grade through college who decided in 2001 that they wanted to open a youth-run youth center. They celebrate their success on May 30, 2009, with a housewarming party.

Learning in Greater Homewood

Did you know Greater Homewood is home to 17 great public schools? From pre-kindergarten through high school graduation, there is a school close to home waiting to serve you.

Click on the map to view a larger version.

Experience Corps on Front Page of The Baltimore Sun

Congratulations to GHCC's Experience Corps program, which has received great press via a front-page article in the Baltimore Sun on April 14 as well as a mention in the Sun's InsideEd blog. The article highlights the results of a national study conducted by researchers at Washington University in St. Louis, and complements studies by researchers at Johns Hopkins University.

GHCC has administered Experience Corps in Baltimore City since 1998. In the past school year the program served 20 schools, with over 325 members contributing 158,000 volunteer hours. A partnership between GHCC and The Johns Hopkins Center on Aging and Health, the program has been in Baltimore schools for 10 years and benefits over 7000 students each year.

Success stories abound at each of the Program's 20 schools, like this one from Beatrice Saunders at Waverly Elementary/Middle:

The student that I feel improved the most academically because of Experience Corps is Tommie. I observed in the beginning of the school year that Tommie's problem with staying focused and keeping up with the class was a result of his disorganization and lack of confidence. I first started by helping him straighten out his desk, organizing his papers and notebooks so he could better follow along with the class.

Oftentimes Tommie appeared to be in a daze and showed a lack of interest in keeping up with the other students. The teacher noticed that when I spent time with Tommie he tried harder. I took time to encourage him by telling him that he had to do better in order to pass to the second grade. I also told him he was smart and that he needed to participate in class more so the teacher could see how smart he really was. In observing Tommie four months later I saw great improvement in him. He's now more confident in reading aloud, and he participates more whether his answers are right or wrong. Tommie is just one example of the successful impact of Experience Corps. There are many more I could talk about. I am truly enjoying the life experience. I look forward to seeing the joy I bring to Waverly Elementary each week and the love I receive from everyone there.

Kudos to Experience Corps for a wonderful year!

Don't Miss the Old Goucher Historic House Tour on April 26!

by Peter Duvall


Old Goucher Historic House Tour
April 26 2009

The Old Goucher Community Association, Inc. is celebrating our neighborhood with a tour of the Old Goucher Historic District, located right in the heart of Baltimore.

On Sunday, April 26th from 12:00 PM to 4:00 PM, the Old Goucher Community Association, Inc. will hold a house tour in the Old Goucher Historic District. Stops on the tour will include beautiful two- and three-story row houses, dramatic churches, and some of the historic buildings and halls of Goucher College’s original campus, most dating back to the late 1800s. The fabulous “Clock House” will be on the tour this year.

Tickets for the self-guided house tour will be sold for $12 (Students with ID pay $6) starting at noon through 3:00 PM on April 26, 2009 in front of Lovely Lane United Methodist Church, 2200 St. Paul Street. The ticket price will include a small snack item at one tour stop.

For more information about the tour on April 26th, or about the neighborhood and the Old Goucher Community Association Inc., please call 410-561-0562 or send e-mail to: email@oldgoucher.org.

Waverly School Parents Get a Space of Their Own

From the Waverly Elementary/Middle School PTO

With the help of our Community Connections VISTA this past January, the Waverly Elementary Middle School PTO received a grant from Lowe’s for $3,600 to make a new parent room. With this money we are creating a special space for parents at the school that will be a lounge, work space, and resource center. The parent room is located in the middle school portable building. So far we have had two "decorate days" where we put together our new furniture, decorated the walls and installed three brand new computers! Soon we will have a resource library complete with materials on parenting, childhood development, how to help children in school, and much more. Soon parents will be able to come to the parent room to hang out, get information about the school, use the internet, use the printer and copy machines, or attend workshops and meetings. We hope the room will be a great resource to Waverly parents!

Station North Spring Music Festival Seeking Volunteers

The Station North Spring Music Festival is right around the corner, and the Charles North Community Association is seeking volunteers to help make the event a success. Jobs vary from setting up, to helping during event hours (5:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m.), to closing everything down between 11:00 p.m. and 1:00 a.m. This is truly a case where many hands make light work, and working at the Festival is a great opportunity to meet new friends and have a good time.

All are welcome, whether you can give a whole day or just an hour or two of your time. If you can help, please contact Mr. Jamy Erny, Event Coordinator, at 410-812-6161 or theearnys@hotmail.com Or, if you're the spontaneous type, you can also just show up early the day of the Festival at the northeast corner of Charles Street and North Avenue.


See you there!

(click flyer to view larger version)

Medfield Heights Elementary to Host Second Annual Boys & Girls Fashion Show

Written by Angela Tyler, Medfield Heights Elementary School parent.

Don't miss this one! Second Annual Boys & Girls Fashion Show - Friday, April 24 - 6:30-8:30pm @ Western/Poly HS (Falls Rd at Cold Spring) hosted by Medfield Heights Elementary PTA and yes, it is a boy-friendly show, too!

This family event features 51 Medfield Heights boys and girls gracing the stage with their unique personalities and charm, while showcasing their own fashions. Due to last year's sell-out crowd, the PTA decided to relocate the show from the school's multi-purpose room to a larger facility so many more could enjoy. This year's show also highlights children designers from Sew Fabulous Sewing School in Owings Mills, MD. Tickets are on sale for $7 via www.medfieldheights.com (VISA/MC - debit/credit); by contacting Catherine Bates for group tickets (443-324-9161); or by stopping by the school on Thursday evenings (April 16 & 23 - 5:30-7pm) - 4300 Buchanan Avenue - 21211. Tickets will not be sold at the door.

Medfield Heights Elementary is a small, non-Title 1 school known for its consistent educational excellence, cultural diversity, its Maryland Green School status, and its strong parental and community support. Less than 350 students attend the school ages 4-11, PreK through fifth grade. The Fashion Show serves as one of the PTA's largest fundraisers for the school. Proceeds benefit school activities and 2010 MSA practice booklets.

WANTED: Graphic Designers

Are you a freelance graphic designer? GHCC is looking for a talented designer to partner with us for our 40th anniversary, and it could be you!

Our proposed projects include:

• Updating the GHCC logo -- a slight modernization and possible color change.
• Save the date mailers, invitations, and a program booklet for our 40th anniversary celebration in October.
  
• Redesign of GHCC's annual report. The annual report is 8 x 10" and approximately 20 pages long.

All interested designers should submit itemized quotes for these projects, plus at least five work samples, to jpaul@greaterhomewood.org no later than April 22.

Please direct all questions to Jaclyn Paul at 410-261-3618 or jpaul@greaterhomewood.org. Following submission, applicants will be contacted only if their work is selected for further review.

Scrabble Fundraiser for Literacy: Photo Essay

Written by Jannette Seman

On Saturday, March 28, GHCC's Adult Literacy & ESOL Program hosted its Eighth Annual Scrabble Fundraiser for Literacy. A record number of players raised over $5700 for the program through registration fees, a raffle, and a silent auction.

March Madness games weren’t the only ones bringing people together this month. For the Literacy Program, March was quite the month for board games.

For the Literacy staff, spring brings flowers, showers, and Scrabble! On March 28, nearly 115 social and competitive Scrabble players braved the rainy weather for an evening of great fun and gamesmanship at the Eighth Annual Scrabble Fundraiser for Literacy, making this year’s event the most successful to date. Thanks to the wonderful assistance of the Literacy Advisory Board, we were able to obtain some amazing donations for player prizes and a silent auction (the first for this event) from several local businesses. Given the economic recession, the generosity in support of this year’s event was the most meaningful success of all.

Book Sale to Benefit Baltimore City Public Schools TOMORROW!

(click the image to see a larger version)

Sharing Knowledge, Sharing Experience -- It's a Win-Win

Written by Lisa Morris.

I was struggling, clearly, to explain what I wanted Sharon to do.

“ok, so I want you to break this word in half so that you say each...ummm..part of the word...ummm...where it makes sense to divide it up...” My dry erase marker feebly drifted between letters.

“Syllabification!” Sharon called out from across the room. My jaw dropped.

My name is Lisa Morris. I am a volunteer tutor with the Greater Homewood Adult Literacy & ESOL Program, and Sharon is my tutee (an adult learner because she graduated from high school more than a few years ago). Most of the time, of course, I have a better handle on what I’d like Sharon to work on, but this conversation was a perfect example of how reciprocal our relationship is. I hadn’t used the word syllabification. Sharon constantly reminds me, not in so many words, that her knowledge of spelling, vocabulary, and grammar is just rusty. She knows the basic sounds that the letters make, and despite her issues with spelling, can read some complex words. And every once in a while, something from her history with formal education seems to pop out of nowhere.

The Adult Literacy Program serves more than 400 Adult Literacy and ESOL learners each year.
I am one of 70 volunteers. During the day, I am an AmeriCorps*VISTA member at the Center for Social Concern at Johns Hopkins University, working to develop service-learning opportunities at JHU. In order to take the job, I moved to Baltimore in August 2008. Sharon’s was one of the first faces that I was able to associate as being of the city; many of those who live on my street in Hampden or go to school at Hopkins are transplants, from elsewhere but here for the time being.

As we’ve worked together, Sharon and I have developed a few favorite activities. Since her faith is important to her, I’ve given Sharon chapters of the Book of John to read for homework every session. We also enjoy competing to make the longest words out of a random mix of letters rolled from Boggle cubes. She occasionally gives me a ride home from our tutoring sessions, when the weather is cold or rainy, leaving me with a long bus ride home, or brings me candy when she has some extra to share.

Today we’re going to work on homonyms and long vowel sounds, but really, Sharon will probably give me as much as I can give her.