CRC Capital Campaign | Black Women Build

COMMUNITY RESOURCE CENTER CAPITAL CAMPAIGN

We have broken ground on our Community Resource Center, expanding our holistic mission to support first-time homebuyers in Baltimore.

This $1.5 million Capital Campaign has received major support from the City of Baltimore, France-Merrick Foundation, The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, Jampart Charitable Trust, and JP Morgan Chase. Please join in our continued effort to build Baltimore’s future through homeownership.

“BWBB is proud to expand our services and training opportunities through the creation of our Community Resource Center. The Center will cultivate knowledge and community connection while catalyzing affordable housing as a cornerstone of joy and resilience.”

Shelley Halstead

Founder & Executive Director

GET INVOLVED

For more information about how to get involved with our fundraising please reach out give@blackwomenbuild.org or donate today

BWBB Past & Future

BWBB is creating a Community Resource Center (CRC) to meet expanding needs. The CRC builds on the successful completion of 17 houses. To bring back these rowhouses, we’ve taken on extensive gut rehabs with structural stabilization to preserve history and create affordable homes for first-time homebuyers. Over the next two years we will complete 25 more rowhouses, filling in and further strengthening our community.

We made a promise to our homeowners and direct neighbors that BWBB would provide long term support. The CRC will allow us to have a much needed larger space to provide our intersectional services. These currently include financial wellness classes, financial check ins, homebuyer education classes, community events, monthly meetings, clean ups, and homeowner workshops. Through the CRC these services will expand to include: a tool lending library including classes on how to use the tools; home repair services for owners or renters; safety classes on water and mold; community space with BWBB and resident designed programs; a quiet and comfortable reading room; and a tranquility garden which will have outdoor programming.

Black Women Build’s new Community Resource Center will create work opportunities for individuals to teach trades classes, skill-based workshops, work in the tool lending library, and help to repair other homes in the community. We are finally entering the holistic stages of our work, where we begin to create the things we want to see in the neighborhood: mutual care and support, safe housing and spaces for children and families to come together. The CRC will be an epicenter to ensure lasting community connectedness and joy.

BWBB has received a number of accolades for our work in the area which is a testament to the strengths, capacity, and success. The Center for Architecture New York’s highlights BWBB’s work as a significant case study; this year the AIA National Conference invited our founder Shelley as a keynote speaker. Awards include: Preservation Maryland “Smart Growth Excellence Award”, Maryland Department of Planning – “Maryland Sustainable Growth Award for Sustainable Communities”, and Zumtobel Architecture Group – Urban Initiative for Whole Block Outcomes in Baltimore.

collaboration

Designed by BWBB Founder Shelley Halstead in collaboration with architect Jay Orr, AIA, LEED AP, Harvard University (MArch), Yale University. Jay is formerly a Principal and Director of the Baltimore office of ARQ Architects, and current Principal of Marginal Architecture. He has also taught at Harvard University, University of Maryland, and Morgan State University. Jay’s talents have been part of the BWBB developments since our inception.

Jay Orr

AIA, LEED AP

Building

The two-story, 2,040-square-foot building will provide tranquil space for our expanding intersectional services allowing us to support more individuals and families per year. It will also function as the BWBB headquarters.

Situated on a 5,820-square-foot lot which will include a 1,600-square-foot tranquility garden. Two meeting rooms and five private administrative offices will allow BWBB to best serve the needs of participants by creating flexibility through private financial wellness meetings and small to large group classes on a range of topics. The building features an open atrium floor plan, establishing a two-story-tall primary community room which will be light-filled and airy. Off the primary community room will be a patio that leads to the tranquility garden; a quiet and comfortable reading room; a kitchen; bathroom; and private meeting room. Also on the ground floor will be the tool lending library built from large equipment donations from Stanley Black and Decker and HILTI tools.

It will be state-of-the art and energy efficient, utilizing a brick structure and passive design which includes skylights and solar power.

The Community Resource Center will cement BWBB as a thought-leader in affordable housing in the United States, and central to the cultural fabric of Baltimore.

Building community, knowledge, and wealth together.

Organization

BECOME A HOMEOWNER

mailing address:
P.O. Box 16564
Baltimore, MD 21217

This project is supported in part by:

Black Women Build-Baltimore is an equal employer. You do not need to identify as Black or a woman to apply but as a mission-based organization, we center Black women.