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The HEBCAC economic development program was created to develop strategies designed to bolster the local economy and to increase job opportunities within Historic East Baltimore for community residents. Realizing the magnitude and complexity of issues facing the community, HEBCAC has created a two-pronged approach to economic development.

• Entrepreneurial Assistance – assisting both existing small businesses and entrepreneurs in growing or starting new enterprises in Historic East Baltimore, and
• Commercial Development – acquiring and developing vacant commercial properties to house businesses and related activities that create jobs and other economic opportunities for area residents.

Entrepreneurial Assistance

HEBCAC helps small businesses by linking them with technical assistance and business financing programs, locating commercial or industrial space, and working with various City agencies.

HEBCAC’s major business assistance effort currently underway is Monument Street Renaissance, an initiative to enhance Historic East Baltimore’s main retail corridor. The Historic East Baltimore Village Center was one of two village centers within Baltimore’s Empowerment Zone that were selected to participate in the National Main Street Program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation in late 1999.

For the past century, the Monument Street retail business district has served those who live, visit, and work in East Baltimore. Today, the over 170 businesses, including the merchants in the Northeast Market, offer a variety of goods and services. As a “Main Street” Program, Monument Street Renaissance is a volunteer-driven initiative that seeks to enhance existing businesses in the shopping district, to attract new retail development to the area by making the area cleaner, safer, and more customer-friendly, and to expand the mix of goods and services in order to improve customer service and support Monument Street’s position as the premier shopping destination in East Baltimore.

Facilitated by HEBCAC staff, the Monument Street Renaissance, follows the NMSC “Four Point Approach” (Organization, Design, Promotion, and Business Assistance) and operates through committees of volunteers that meet to track progress of the Program’s work plan. Members of the committees include merchants, building owners, area residents, leaders of neighborhood improvement associations, and representatives of local institutions.

Over the past three and a half years, the Monument Street Renaissance has designed and implemented a matching grant façade improvement program that stimulated over $1 million of improvements in the business district, implemented strategies for business expansion (51 new businesses and 116 new jobs) and business retention (6 businesses and 11 jobs), provided technical assistance to 181 businesses, and facilitated a comprehensive initiative that culminated in a Master Plan for the business district.

VOLUNTEERS ARE NEEDED to assist with all kinds of community-based annual events – like the Monument Street Holiday Parade, the East Baltimore Clean-Up and National Night Out – and other special projects! For additional information, please contact Don Buie at 443/524-2595 or dbuie@hebcac.org.

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Commercial Development

HEBCAC owns two buildings that formerly housed large industrial concerns that provided jobs for neighborhood residents. It has been HEBCAC’s intent to covert these structures into new sources of employment or services for community residents.

1212 N. Wolfe Street
The first of major commercial properties to be redeveloped is 212 N. Wolfe Street is a 43,000 SF industrial building that has housed a number of businesses over much of the last century. Most recently the building was home to the Diamond Press Company.

The demand for office space in the area provides an excellent opportunity to rehabilitate the 1212 N. Wolfe Street Building and convert it from industrial single-use to a multi-tenant commercial office space. 1212 N Wolfe Street ouse HEBCAC administrative team as well as several important training and social service providers for the community, including:

The Caroline Center – Upholstery Program
A program of the School Sisters of Notre Dame that utilizes small classes and individual instruction, computer training, open discussions, workshops, internships and field trips to train a women in the upholstery trade.

Youth Opportunities Initiative
An innovative and comprehensive employment initiative that targets out-of-school and unemployed youth for employment and educational opportunities.

 Project SERVE (Service-Empowerment-Revitalization-Volunteerism-Employment)
A community-based program that works in the City's underserved neighborhoods and trains disadvantaged residents with marketable skills while they revitalize their communities.

East Baltimore Technology Resource Center
A new collaboration between MCAT, Johns Hopkins Urban Health Institute, Community Cybernet, and several other community based organizations founded to provide technical assistance for community organizations and computer training for residents through in-classroom sessions or hands-on work with a computer refurbishing business.

East Baltimore Community Health Center
A program of the Johns Hopkins Urban Health Institute that provides health counseling and related services to community residents.  
 

901 N. Milton Street
HEBCAC acquired 901 N. Milton in mid-1998 with the intention of rehabilitating the structure for commercial or light industrial use. Several development options are being explored and community consensus as to the reuse of the building is also being sought.

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