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Green Homes For All

Our current project, the Greenwood Communities Initiative (GCI), utilizes the natural resources of a designated “disinvested” community in the transformation of urban neighborhoods, “one green home at a time.” GCI seeks to:

• Develop a replicable/profitable program;
• Direct a cadre of skilled/committed rehabber;
• Utilize high-quality yet affordable green building practices; and
• Restore “sustainable”, child- and elderly-friendly neighborhoods to city tax rolls

Bridge Private Lending has begun to implement this program in the Oliver Community, a neighborhood in the heart of East Baltimore, located about ten blocks north of the Johns Hopkins University Medical School complex. The process has successfully begun with the “green” rehabilitation and sale of several houses in the area. Bridge makes project awards on a site-specific basis to a particular rehab partner. Following the allocation of each property, rehabbers commit to following LEED certification requirements.

Concurrent with the rehabilitation of individual rowhomes, GCI works with church and community leaders to engage area grade school students and residents. Priorities include: encouraging previous residents to return “home” by purchasing a newly rehabbed dwelling, organizing afterschool and other educational programs, creating public “green spaces” and community gardens, and establishing an Aging-in-Place program for elderly residents. The consequent “sustainable” neighborhood growth contributes to the city tax coffers, provides training for formerly unemployed residents, enhances indoor air quality, attracts new homebuyers to the area, and lowers utility costs for property owners and occupants.

Use this website as a resource for similar efforts in your own community and sign up for our Green Toolchest newsletter in the window above! And if you would like to receive e-mail notifications every time we post a new blog entry, just click here.

Read the blog for neighborhood news, tips on affordability & green, and more

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Our Most Recent Posts

• “The Baltimore Plan” ::: 07/26/10

  To date, OGH has accumulated lots of film footage documenting our project as it’s being realized in Oliver– seeing rough cuts of what our film crew has thus far collected, I felt compelled to look for other examples (outside of “The Wire”) of “East Baltimore cinema” to compare and contrast. The internet proved a fruitful resource– take a look at the most interesting sample I found from the 1950′s detailing problems with East Baltimore slums and predatory landlords (it’s long, and questionably biased/staged, but completely worth a gander).

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• National Night Out in Oliver ::: 07/27/10

  In exactly one week Baltimore (along with the rest of the country) will be celebrating the 27th National Night Out. If you have no idea what that is (I didn’t, when first I heard about it), here’s the gist: National Night Out is a community-police event meant to increase awareness about local police programs like drug prevention, town watches, etc. Lights-on vigils are common in most cities, while some neighborhoods even throw block parties and festivals.

  As per the above flier, the Oliver Community Association is helping to promote this event at their building on Federal—food and fun will be provided, with an emphasis on safety and positive community spirit. The idea is that all residents in the area put aside any prejudices (and weaponry) and all but “kumbaya” the night away.

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• Systemic, Sustainable Design ::: 07/29/10

  For all you “green nerds” out there– check out the above clip filmed during the Design Museum’s Sustainable Futures exhibition. Interviews included are given by London graduate students (contributors to the New Designers show) each of whom elaborates on their concept of “green design”. I always find it refreshing to hear from younger innovators who, despite the green fluff predominating the design and building industries, have taken a more logical stance on sustainability (ie, “recycled” doesn’t necessarily mean “green”– factors like origin, consequent transportation costs, and usability are just as important).

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