Who should be the decision makers when a neighborhood begins the long and sometimes painful steps toward revitalization? In this blog post, the suggestion is to work with residents, not for them.
Here's an excerpt:
"If the Oldtown community of East Baltimore is to be revitalized without the gentrification created in other Baltimore neighborhoods, a new form of economic development must be undertaken. Systemic barriers that exclude entire groups must be dealt with realistically. Change4Real, a coalition led by Sojourner-Douglass College consisting of local residents and core community institutions, believes that working collaboratively and with the proper resources, even people perceived as poor can successfully plan their own development. Therefore, Coalition members intend to work with, not for, the residents to help them acquire the necessary resources."
Read the entire post
here.