Attention Community Leaders! Recycling Education Grant Opportunity

Did you celebrate Earth Hour by turning out your lights on Saturday evening? Well, here's another way you can help the planet and get your community on board! Baltimore Community Foundation (BCF) is partnering with the Mayor's Cleaner, Greener Baltimore Initiative to offer grants to community organizations, Community Relations Councils, and neighborhood umbrella groups who want to get the word out about Baltimore City's recycling program.


The City of Baltimore anticipates that significant education and outreach will need to be done to help residents take advantage of recycling opportunities, including the proposed One Plus One solid waste pick-up schedule of one day a week trash collection plus one day a week recycling collection.

Goals of this grant are to:
• Get more people recycling through neighborhood driven efforts
• Find out how many more people are recycling as a result of the neighborhood driven efforts
• Get people comfortable with recycling
• Provide recycling education to residents
• Provide accessibility to recycling bins if necessary

If you have a great idea for getting your neighborhood engaged in recycling, contact Aisha Samples, Program Assistant at BCF, at asamples@bcf.org or 410-332-4172 ext. 145. But hurry! The deadline for initial applications is Monday, April 6.

Interested in doing more to promote recycling in your community? Here are some more ways you can make a difference:
• Identify up to 5 households in your community who do not recycle who would be willing to try with the help of a “recycling coach”. Contact Hope Williams at hope.williams@baltimorecity.gov if you are interested in doing this;
• Discuss recycling at your community association meetings and include information about recycling in communications with your community. Recycling literature is available from the Initiative;
• Talk to neighborhood stores about being a bin sales site. Interested stores should contact Hope Williams;
• Sell recycling bins. BCF has a loan fund available for community groups that would like to purchase a large quantity of recycling bins to make it easier for your residents to purchase the bins.

Making Connections: Success Academy and Charles Village

By John Bernet, GHCC Community Connections Coordinator/AmeriCorps VISTA

On Saturday, March 22^nd, students from Success Academy in Baltimore City came out for a volunteer clean-up day at St. John’s United Methodist Church on the corner of 26^th and St. Paul Street. Over the course of two very productive hours, they cleaned out the garden and trimmed back the ivy along the front of the building and raked the side yards, making it look beautiful just in time for Spring to begin! They were joined by Pam and Christian Wilson from the Peabody Heights Resident Homeowners Alliance and Mrs. Carol Berman from the St. John’s congregation, all of whom helped to coordinate the effort with Success Academy Principal Kevin Brooks.

Following their time working outside, the students got a tour of the building and a run-down of all the wonderful services and programs the church provides. This was the first day of a two-part project, the second to occur around the week of Earth Day. Thanks to all the great students from Success Academy who participated, and the Wilsons and Mrs. Berman for providing lunch and an opportunity to see and learn about a very active local church!

This volunteer effort also marks the beginning of an active partnership between Success Academy and the surrounding communities that will see lots of volunteer and enrichment opportunities for the students.

Success Academy, an alternative school for city students on long-term suspension and expulsion, is located on the ground floor of Baltimore City Schools headquarters at 200 E. North Avenue.

Medfield Heights Elementary School Hosts First Reunion

Paul Smith graduated from Medfield Heights Elementary School in 1962 and is currently President of the Medfield Community Association.

Recently [Medfield Heights Elementary School] had the first reunion gathering. Approximately 150 graduates returned to share old stories and rekindle old friendships from quite a while ago. Some of the attendees still live in the neighborhood. It was great to see some of the guys and gals that I grew up with in Medfield. The turnout ranged from recent graduates to some not so recent.

The event had music, games, and refreshments provided by the Medfield PTA -- thank you, it was great!

Hopefully it won't be too long before we will have another reunion. We are not getting any younger.

It amazes me that the graduates from Medfield Elementary School would take time from their busy scheudles to return and share old memories. I guess it shows the character of the school and its students.

Solving the Drop-Out Crisis -- University of Baltimore Center for Families, Children, and the Courts to Host Urban Child Symposium

By Leigh Dalton, Truancy Court Program Manager and School Liaison Center for Families, Children and the Courts at the University of Baltimore School of Law.


To all teachers, administrators and community members interested in child advocacy and education:

As the Truancy Court Program Manager and School Liaison, I am sending you the link located below regarding an Urban Child Symposium presented by the Center for Families, Children and the Courts (CFCC) to take place on April 2, 2009.

The topic is Solving the Drop-out Crisis: Getting the Other Half to Attend and Achieve. CFCC would like to extend the invitation for this event to you and to anyone you think would be interested. This includes any and all parents and students who would like to hear the amazing Jonathan Kozol [Author of Savage Inequalities, Amazing Grace, Death at an Early Age, and others] speak at 5:30pm. The event is free, and breakfast and lunch will be provided.

In addition to those you may know personally who would be interested in attending this Symposium, if you could forward this invitation to other other staff, teachers, students, parents and administration, and community partners, it would be greatly appreciated. There is more information on the Symposium below, if you click on the link provided. Registration is online.

For details and to register, please click here: http://law.ubalt.edu/urbanchild

If you have questions or concerns about the Symposium, please contact Leigh Dalton, Truancy Court Program Manager and School Liaison Center for Families, Children and the Courts, at 410-837-5792 or ldalton@ubalt.edu

On-Street Bike Parking Unveiled at Eddie's Today

by Nate Evans, Bike and Pedestrian Planner, City of Baltimore

With the high bicycle volume of Charles Village, more parking is needed for cyclists. The on-street bike parking (OSBP) converts an existing vehicular car space to park 10-12 bicycles.

Cyclists in GHCC's Baltimore Bike Pageant, August 2008

OSBP centralizes bike parking, which improves security for the bikes and preserves sidewalk space for merchants and pedestrians. As bikes are parked in the street, the facility will have car stops and bollards to protect the bikes from vehicles. Eddie’s Market is a great location for OSBP due to high pedestrian traffic, minor privilege use by area merchants, and the presence of brick sidewalks which are unsuitable for conventional bike racks.

The unveiling of the bike parking highlights the cooperation between the city government and community to find unique solutions to common issues and shows Mayor Dixon’s commitment to active transportation and a healthy lifestyle.

Sofi's To Celebrate!

by Ann Costlow, Owner, Sofi's Crepes

Five years ago, Sofi’s Crepes opened our doors in a 150 square foot location next to the Charles Theater. Since then we have expanded that location, opened a second location further down on Charles Street in the Woman’s Industrial Exchange downstairs, and are now opening our first franchise in downtown Annapolis!

May people wonder …Who is Sofi???...Well, Sofi was my wonderful 12 year old bearded collie who had suffered spinal injuries and ended up in a cart for the last 2 years of her life…She never lost her enthusiasm, joyfulness and playfulness even when confined to her cart. This was going on while I was planning to open the Crepe shop, so I decided to name the shop after her since she was such an example of determination and acceptance.


Sofi

To celebrate our 5-year anniversary, we want to thank all of our supporters with a party, and donate all profits to a wonderful organization who helps handicapped animals. It is Pet Rescue of Maryland, run by a group of volunteers.

We will have live music by “Occasionally Brilliant," and crepes will be offered at $5 for savory crepes, and $5 for a sweet crepe and drink.

The date is Wednesday, April 1st from 5-9pm at our 1723 N.Charles Street location.

Spring is the Season!

by Joe Stewart, Better Waverly resident

To me spring says “survival” after way too many long dark days during dead of winter.

Buds promise splashes of color; birds chirp odes of joy and I see myself wading in our rivers and bay. Swimming for me in open water is akin to being born again in passionate pagan ritual and celebration!

Sliding barefoot into the slimy salty ooze of our Patapsco or Chesapeake is an emersion deep in meaning for me. I sense “from where we came millions of years ago”, shivering outside normal bounds of gravity, with wind and waves bouncing me about and the moon pulling me back and forth.

I don’t recommend you try this before knowing how to swim and please stay close to shore until you know you won’t panic or be overpowered by those tides and currents.

You may not even like the water. I am sure it is the solitary quality of my swims making it special to me. So, selfishly, I don’t want everyone in my lane when I am out at sea.

But I am certain many of you have a similar reaction to the arrival of this new season.

Yours may be to garden and plant, to cycle, walk or run or perhaps to sit under a tree reading a book. Maybe you get high thinking about spring cleaning or washing your car.

We may be in a depression. Economically things may even get worse before they are better; but surely some things in life are still free and worth getting out and enjoying.

What does spring signify for you?

What makes it worth waiting through another winter for you to appreciate here?

If you would like to know more about open water swimming, how to contribute to the urban watershed groups I am raising funds for with my May 17th swim or want to read my poem, On Swimming an Estuary, contact me directly: jstewart@dat.state.md.us