#sharp leadenhall

[cemerynsf]

A look at Sharp-Leadenhall's youth cleaning up their neighborhood as a part of their summer jobs. The Clean and Green team is a South Baltimore Partnership p...

[oharriesnsf-blog]

Friday morning with Clean and Green

[cemerynsf]

Photo Essay Clean and Green Team

The Sharp-Leadenhall community has been very welcoming. The young men working as part of the Clean and Green Team are inspiring to observe and work with. These up and coming leaders in the community are learning how to be more responsible while having vibrant, enthusiastic, and energetic interactions with each other and members of the community. 

Gateway to Sharp-Leadenhall. Beautifying the buildings as well as the streets.

"These are our streets" The Clean and Green Crew welcomes us.

Getting down to business. First day on the job sweeping the streets clean for the community meeting. 

The motto; located in Solo Gibbs park.

Edward weed whacks this mini grassland overflowing from a residence’s backyard.

Say hello to my lil friends. Stefan brings out double leaf blowing power to erase all of the cut grass and weeds.

Play Ball! We all get to enjoy the summer afternoon at Solo Gibbs Park 

  Hustlin’, hustlin’ to get that third out. #Darius

Comparing the trees of Sharp Leadenhall to the iconic tree in the Green Team shirts.

But first let me take a selfie #Martelle #Stefan

Back to work on Creek street. #Martelle

Take 5. Darius(right), Stefan(back) and Devin(left) relax in the shade on a stoop under the overcast of the trees planted near St.Stephen and James Lutheran Church.

3 strikes your out! Edward at the mound.

Edward can sweep the game and sweep the streets clean too. He is preparing the streets for the community meeting.

Lunch break at 10:30am, prepared by the team’s nutritionist, Ms. Edwards. Ms. Betty is still hard at work organizing, using the kitchen as her office.

Team work makes the dream work, as Eric(front) and Edward(back) sweep up Henrietta street.

Montrelle, the dare devil, risks getting cut as he uses the high speed weed whacker to beautify Creek street.

Playin’ around at Solo Gibbs Park after a long day cleaning up the playground that is normally utilized by the younger children in the community.

Team photo after a longer photo shoot of the young men. The team finally persuaded Mr. Sam, the director, to get in a photo.

"South Baltimore Partnership Green Team" The teams uniform and beautification symbol for the community.

The community is alive and active and organized. The Clean and Green Team is a great opportunity for young men to earn money and become more independent financially while helping the community and their families. Other programs like Sharp kids also started by Betty Bland-Thomas feed into the Clean and Green when the younger kids see the older kids taking a leadership role and having a blast while doing it.

[mwamalwansf-blog]

South Baltimore-Shrinking Neighborhood

We split up the team today in order to more efficiently get the work we needed done accomplished. I ended up back in the lab looking through the research/archival material that Dr. Durrington provided our group with. 

The first reaction I had was one of apprehension, there was a whole lot of pages for me to read. It was a compilation of newspaper articles, notes, planning blueprints, maps and more. As I started looking into the history of the South Baltimore community and the role it played in the end of slavery I started to appreciate the project we are embarking upon more. 

The first time we walked through the neighborhood and I heard about the historic designation I didn't really react in any way. I realize now that this was because I didn't know the history behind it intimately. As I read about the different churches some of which are still standing now I was drawn into the world of Sharp Leadenhall. 

The most riveting piece in the compilation was the piece about Mildred Moon. It was encouraging to read about how one person was able to create and maintain so much positive change. At the same time, it was disheartening to see how polarizing leaders can create huge vacuums with their departure that leads to the breakdown of their endeavors in life.

This is a problem that I think has plagued the black race for generations. Charismatic and effective leaders rise up and incite revolutionary change, but due to lack of follow up once the leaders die their organizations and the positive changes they bring often die with them. This really impacted me. 

[cemerynsf]

Cleaning up the playground

Today was a very nice day at Sharp Leadenhall. We arrived at lunch and then followed the young men to the playground at Solo Gibbs Park. We got to interview the young men on their start in the Clean and Green Team, what it means to them and some additional thoughts on their impact in the community. Before we even started Eric, a very quiet and reserved guy came over to clean the tennis courts where i was filming B-roll of the mural. He asked me out of the blue, "Are we gonna get the cameras that everyone else got?" He sounded so concerned that he was left out and would not get a chance to use the technology to tell his story. i quickly reassured him that we planned on giving them to him and the other two young men after the day was finished and apologized for the miscommunication. We just gave them out to those who came to play baseball because that is what we had them. His response was a soft ok and he continued to sweep the storm debris. I walk over to the fairly large playground and begin to shot some B-roll of the young men cleaning. Raul with the audio recorder and me with the HD camera begin to interview the guys. There was a sense of jealousy as everyone wanted to be filmed. Even the shy ones like Eric and Will would slowly walk towards up to try and be in the shots. The range of personalities gave us different quality and length of interviews. Darius is a very outgoing youth and had not problem rolling from one question to the next without us having to even ask the question. Due to his rambling nature we asked him a few more question on his future and schooling than some of the other guys because he seemed more eager to talk. As soon as we did on of the guys shouted out, "Darius gets asked all the questions." So we wrapped up his segment and moved one. Most of the responses were the same. They ran along the lines of how that feel good about helping beautify their community, how the residents appreciate their efforts, how the younger kids look up to them. When asked about how they are spending their hard earned dollars. The responses varied. Some focuses on helping their parents, some talked about saving up for college or a car, and some said they just want to be more independent and be able to buy their own clothes and sports gear. We were able to get most everyone on camera but will wrap up the interviews tomorrow when we head down for a full day with the Clean and Green Team.

[oharriesnsf-blog]

South Baltimore Partnership meeting - overview notes

Solo Gibbs Recreation Center set to open July 7th

Two staff members formally let the Sharp Leadenhall community know

Tracy Estap – (410)-396-7005

Rec center will only be open for a couple of weeks during the summer, for children 5-13

Camp is free to the first 50 children

To sign up, must go to Thomas Johnson Elementary’s Ella Bailey Rec Center to pick up a packet

Parents will be called to confirm their children’s place

DIVA (Dedicated Innovative Visionary Association) fashion show

Rehearsal Thursday, 5pm, at SL Baptist

  Sharp Leadenhall redevelopment plan

BSun article

Knew development was only a matter of time in 2009

Not too late for community engagement

Before we can do anything, we need a plan

How is this going to help the community as a whole? Young people?

Casino task force is meeting in July at LBC -> need to be present

Bill Cole should be here explaining this

  Children want:

Writing club

More sports/games (for boys and girls)

[cemerynsf]

America's past time in Sharp Leadenhall

Today's baseball game was a lot of fun. We were all running a bit late on this extremely hot humid summer day. We walk over to the field that has the ravens and orioles parking right behind it and the highway above and behind it making a very noisy backdrop but also providing a steady breeze of car fumes. Only 4 of the 7 guys came out to play but there was a sense of normalcy about it. All of had superior baseball skill to us, particularly in the outfield. Before yet start they had to establish bases. They picked up the biggest flattest purses of debris and trash markers. Home plate was still left their luckily. First base was an old rotten red and stripped piece of wood with nail popping halfway out. Second base was a flatted plastic gallon of milk container. Finally third base was a combination of a small fish met bag and a bag of chips. We began playing and it took a couple inning for everyone to get in the Ruth of things. After a while it became a home run derby because of the lack of available defensive players, the simmering and suffocating heat, and all of us running around. We stopped the game at 21-16... At least I think. But the score didn't matter. As Darius said, "it's about having fun. Don't worry about the score, man." After word we got some shots of them swinging and they really seemed to get into production mode. The quickly suggested a couple other scenes of them walking and one of them saying a quote they thought of. After wards we handed them the zooms and talked about colleges and school for a bit. Their faces lit up when we told them we were giving the zooms. I am very confident they will film some great footage and insightful quotes.

[oharriesnsf-blog]