The beginning of HEBCAC epitomizes the saying “every adversity is seed for a greater benefit”. Representatives from neighborhood associations, elected officials, Johns Hopkins Medicine, Kennedy Krieger Institute, businesses, churches, government, and other leaders came together to develop a strategy for rebuilding the East Baltimore community. The first meetings, starting in August of 1992, were fraught with serious issues of distrust and decade old strained relationships. Despite this the group set aside their differences and found a common agenda. The time was spent building a framework for the community building process. Areas of development were identified including housing, health, youth and education, economics, and leadership. By the end of 1993 there was a consensus to move forward with a coordinated plan of action. The next year was spent putting together the organization that came to be known as HEBCAC. In December of 1994 the first staff was hired and the office opened.

Since its founding, HEBCAC has been actively engaged in the implementation of a comprehensive community development agenda that is contributing to the transformation of the Historic East Baltimore community. HEBCAC’s objectives include the developing a range of social, physical and economic initiatives designed to generate substantive and sustainable change within East Baltimore. The highlights of the organization from 1995 include:

Youth and Family Services:
• The Youth Opportunities Center – The YO program opened its doors in the Diamond Press Building in October 2000. We now have over 750 enrollees—hard-to reach youth who are out school and out of work-- in educational, employment, and enrichment activities provided by Sylvan Learning Systems, Urban Technologies and Baltimore City Community College---programs designed to open doors to good jobs and careers. And we’re connecting these young people to medical, legal and other services to make sure they have better opportunities to launch new productive lives here in East Baltimore.
• Dee’s Place – The establishment of Dee’s Place, a Narcotics Anonymous program working primarily with individuals in recovery who need a place to go for counseling when in need. Open from 9:00PM to 9:00AM seven days a week, Dee’s Place has recorded over 150,000 visits since December 2000. Dee’s Place counselors also provide referral services for treatment, housing, employment and other issues. Dee’s program is so successful that people come from beyond Baltimore City even as far away as Philadelphia and Washington. In the short time Dee’s Place has been in operation, Ms. Sparks has become know nationally, and she has been a featured speaker at various public forums throughout the United States.
• Historic East Baltimore Family Network – The award of the Historic East Baltimore Family Network grant that launched the Men’s’ Center, led the planning process for the $1,000,000 Safe and Sound grant for East Baltimore, and the establishment of Project ASSET (Achieving Self-Sufficiency Through Employment and Treatment). In total over $4.4 million of funding was raised to support vital services for East Baltimore residents by the HEBCAC Family Development staff during this initiative.
• Domestic Violence Prevention – The establishment of the Domestic Violence Training Program through a 5-year grant (totaling $487,000 for HEBCAC) in partnership with JHU School of Nursing and George Washington University that is developing violence prevention educational programs in 3 Baltimore City middle schools including Dunbar and Lombard.

Economic and Employment Development:
• The GATE (Gaining Access to Training and Employment) – The GATE’s training programs are conducted through HEBCAC’s partner East Baltimore Community Corp. and cover a range of fields such as construction, office administration, computer technology, and medical technology. This program has prepared and placed nearly 1,800 individuals in good family sustaining jobs.
• Bridges to Work – five years ago HEBCAC launched a totally novel demonstration program that provided transportation to inner city residents to jobs in the suburbs. Over 900 community residents received regular transportation services and nearly 500 of those individuals were placed in their jobs through our services. By nearly any measure Bridges was proven to be one of the most successful of the demonstrations funded HUD. Five years ago there was no way for most East Baltimore resident without a car to get a job outside of the City of Baltimore. Today there are at least a half a dozen or more transportation providers doing exactly what Bridges proved was possible.
• Commercial Development – HEBCAC has acquired two industrial buildings for conversion to commercial space in order to create jobs and to provide public services. In the fall of 2000, HEBCAC completed the initial phase of rehabbing Diamond Press for educational, training, office spaces for community-oriented programs and small enterprises—our most notable tenant being the Youth Opportunities Program.
• Main Street Program – In 2001 HEBCAC launched a 5-year Main Street program to revitalize Monument Street. Our activities focus on promotional activities, a façade improvement program, better sanitation and policing, and other business assistance. Over the first two years program has been operational we have stimulated nearly $1,000,000 of private investment in the retail corridor, held promotional events and worked with City agencies to make Monument Street cleaner, safer, and a better place to shop.

Housing Assistance:
Past HEBCAC housing initiatives have resulted in
• Over 50 vacant houses rehabbed in the Middle East and Oliver communities
• Over 150 people helped with housing counseling and/or relocation assistance to ensure new homeowners can move into East Baltimore and seniors can stay in the community where they have raised their families
• Over 20 East Baltimore residents have applied for and received Baltimore City Homeowner Institute residential rehab grants to make necessary home improvements to their homes.

Neighborhood Restoration:
Through a number of innovative improvement initiatives HEBCAC has
• Planted over 400 street trees
• Established 12 community gardens, playgrounds, and parks
• Distributed over 2,000 potted shrubs to community residents to assist them in improving their neighborhoods
• Completed seven mural projects throughout the community
• Established the HEBCAC boarding and cleaning program which in partnership with Living Classrooms, Baltimore City DPW and the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice has boarded and cleaned over 2,000 vacant houses, fenced over 400 vacant lots to prevent illegal dumping, and conducted dozens of neighborhood clean-ups.

Community Leadership and Public Safety Initiatives:
• HEBCAC has conducted a number of leadership development efforts that have provided training and technical assistance to HEBCAC’s membership of over twenty-six community organizations—assisting groups with achieving non-profit status, acquiring properties for community purposes, law enforcement initiatives, and other community improvement I initiatives.
• Weed and Seed Program – HEBCAC has been awarded Weed and Seed site designation by the US Dept. of Justice, assuring that the community is eligible for approximately $1 million in federal funding for public safety initiatives in partnership with the Baltimore City Police Dept.

Serving as a Forum for Redevelopment
A key role of HEBCAC continues to be serving as the primary forum where the City, Johns Hopkins and the Community can discuss and resolve issues related to revitalization efforts in East Baltimore.

In 2000 HEBCAC concluded a 12-month planning process to revise its original master plan and simultaneously a revitalization plan for the Monument Street retail district. These two plans have served as the starting point for the planning efforts of City of Baltimore to develop the biotechnology industry in the Middle East community of East Baltimore. Many of the key recommendations of the two HEBCAC plans have been incorporated into the planning of the new East Baltimore Redevelopment Project. HEBCAC has played other important roles in developing this project by advocating for the rights of residents to be displaced by redevelopment and serving as an information hub for the community. HEBCAC also continues to assist the City in ongoing planning for relocation and social services for those families that will be affected by this redevelopment project.

Through strong partnerships with the Community, Johns Hopkins, and the City of Baltimore, HEBCAC is now poised to implement a new agenda with stronger sense of who we are, what we are, how we function, and where we are going. There are still many obstacles to overcome, however, our history has taught us how to face such challenges and remain committed to continually improving both the organization and the community.