Bringing Community Together
Elijah Cummings, now a member of Congress, assisted Fayette Street Outreach in obtaining a pair of Smallwood Street rowhouses. FSO moved into their new building located at 29 N. Smallwod Street, 2019. FSO received a HUD Grant from Congressman. They also received a Bond Bill from Delegate Ruth M. Kirk, Delegate Jeffery Paige, and Delegate Keith E. Haynes.
The new facility on Smallwood Street includes a Multi-Purpose Room, kitchen, Conference Room, and other areas. Computer, Art & Music, Mentoring, STEM, and Food Desert Awareness programs are offered to youth and seniors alike.
The new center is the first permanent base of FSO. FSO is looking for ways to bring Baltimore back, to make it a better place and bring financial opportunity to the community which is estimated to be home to 1,300 families.
The MARC West Baltimore transit hub, with direct commuter train access to Washington, D.C., is within walking distance of the neighborhood. The University of Maryland, Baltimore is a major employment center about 15 blocks to the east. And, Bon Secours Hospital is a neighbor.
Taking Care of Seniors
It’s general knowledge that the greater a person’s disability, the greater their needs. However, some elderly people have said their needs are not met by those who take care of them.
Feeding Homeless Children
Millions of children and families living in America face hunger and food insecurity every day. Households with children are more likely to experience food insecurity. In 2018, more than 11 million children live in food-insecure households.
Work Force Developement
Our current goal is to build a relationship with workforce development partners ranging from local businesses and industries to provide customized training and life long learning opportunities.
We work with the community so they can embrace themselves. There is a generational wealth gap in this area. We want to teach residents how to save money and reinvest in their community. We want to give people the opportunity to live and thrive in this community. We also give away food and produce. We don’t want to give handout, but give people a leg up. Teaching people to be self-sufficient is the end goal.
FSO started in my mom’s house with about seven residents who wanted to make a change in the community when drug traffic had a heavy presence in our community. We soon developed a comprehensive community program. We boarded up houses, sponsored beautification projects, and worked with the police to identify drug hot spots. We conducted community clean-ups and established an after-school program with Boyd-Booth, another community association north of us.
We developed these relationships and partnerships and was able to do this work with God’s help and somebody else’s resources. We are very adamant about having a place that youth and seniors can come and receive experiences that will be life changing. Many of our citizens have a felony and can’t get a job. But locking people up won’t help us out of our situation.