News and Views

Earlier this month, Ames Shalom Community announced its partners in the development project Resurrection Sandtown, meant to redevelop 67,000 square feet of property in the Sandtown neighborhood of West Baltimore.

 The organization is the nonprofit community development organization of Ames Memorial UMC. Resurrection Sandtown was an idea from Rev. Rodney Hudson of Ames UMC and other congregational leaders, who started brainstorming ideas for neighborhood revitalization as early as 2008. Resurrection Sandtown was formed in 2016.

 Seawall Development, Blank Slate Development and Enterprise Community Development were selected for this phase of the development project.

Seawall Development describes itself as a “socially conscious development company” that wants to reimagine the real estate industry. Other projects at Seawall include providing community-oriented retail spaces for start-ups and discounted apartments to educators, saving them $2.1 million in rent since 2009.

 A minority-owned development and construction company, Blank Slate was founded in 2017. The company specializes in renewing vacant, historic properties and distressed neighborhoods, including an emphasis in developing communities without displacing its original residents.

 Last of the partners, Enterprise Community is an affordable housing provider, specializing in high-impact residential development, property management and resident services. More than 24,000 people are currently housed by the company in its

Mid-Atlantic properties. It has also provided $578 million in grants to its local partner organizations.

 “This milestone is a beacon of hope and a vital force in our mission to breathe new life into West Baltimore’s Sandtown area,” said Rev. Rodney Hudson of Ames Memorial UMC in a statement from Resurrection Sandtown. “By joining hands with these like-minded organizations, we are not just envisioning a stronger community; we are making it a reality.”

“Their expertise is not only indispensable—it is a divine gift guiding us toward a future where every challenge becomes an opportunity for transformative change and enduring prosperity for our community,” he added.

 This announcement was a long time coming.

For Van Beall, a lay member of Glen Mar UMC in Ellicott City, the project represents a dedication by community members to the neighborhood. After another church Beall had partnered with in Baltimore closed, he was pointed in the direction of Hudson and Ames UMC.

Others from the suburbs had come and gone into the community, but Beall was in it for the long haul and wanted to show Hudson that his congregation wanted to be partners with Ames. That included taking kids and volunteers from both churches on mission trips to places like Cherokee, North Carolina and New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

 During these many partnerships, Hudson talked to Beall about his dreams to develop community-oriented projects in the neighborhood. A former project manager in the federal government, Beall thought his skills could be helpful in this effort. With the church property and two row houses already in the project’s hands, Hudson and others were looking for properties next to the church.

In time, the Baltimore-Washington Conference gave Ames $400,000 to purchase 10 city plots, totaling 11,000 square feet, and pay off some other church debts. In this process, the leaders found out about the city of Baltimore’s Vacant to Value program.

The congregation then purchased another eight city plots, adding an additional 10,000 square feet to the Resurrection Sandtown project.

 But, Beall said, they wanted to shoot for another cluster of lots. In the fall of 2018, Beall wrote an email to Northeastern Supply, the company that owned a warehouse abutting the recently acquired plots. Hudson and Beall hoped they could make a large rectangle out of their plot acquisitions, so Beall sent an email to the company explaining their goal. He eventually heard back, albeit more than three years later after sending the company a second email.

 “We felt that God's hand was there in guiding the Cook family to make this decision before they contacted us,” Beall said. “I wrote them an email, they read it 37 months later, they responded to it. I remember when I wrote the first one. I was trying to use the Army method, which is to 'keep it simple, stupid.' I wrote a short email, and then something was telling me, ‘you need to go back and write a different email and provide more info. This is not gonna work.’ And so I wrote a second email, which is the one that they responded to 37 months later.”

 When Hudson, Beall and the architect hired for the project met with company representatives, the company caught the trio off guard with a surprising offer. They would give the project the plot — and two additional buildings.

 “We were just floored,” Beall recalled. “We never asked for the building. We didn’t even have a clue that they were gonna be available. But it worked well with their long-term plan because they were building a new warehouse in another part of Maryland. They didn't need this.”

The buildings were more than 100 years old and in pretty rough shape, Beall said. Those additional plots with the building expanded the vision. In 2023, Dwyer Workforce Development joined the project to create its first-ever Dwyer Scholar Healthcare Village.

 The village would create a resource center, multi-income housing, and a childcare center for the organization’s participants, also known as “Dwyer Scholars.” The facility will be designed to help eliminate poverty-related barriers for those scholars, recruit more people into the program and employ members in the community.

 “Not only do they bring incredible expertise, but these organizations also share in our commitment to develop creative, person-centered solutions to remove barriers to success and uplift underserved communities,” said Barb Clapp, CEO of Dwyer Workforce Development in the Resurrection Sandtown statement.

 “The Dwyer Scholar Healthcare Village is a first-of-its-kind initiative that will provide resources and opportunities that many people may never have thought possible, which will empower individuals and the greater community to accomplish their dreams,” she added.