BMe

Location:  Philadelphia, Baltimore and Detroit

Website:

The BMe Leadership Awards - BMe stands for "black male engagement" - are given to men who are working to make their communities stronger, the foundation said. Trabian Shorters, founder of BMe, said that "there are thousands of black men who are assets to their communities - and if the rest of us got behind people like these, the city would have more to celebrate."

BMe is a network of black men in Philadelphia, Detroit, and Baltimore, that includes professionals, academics, and organizers working on an assortment of community projects. There is no cavalry coming to save the day in communities across America. The visionary leaders that many are waiting for are already here," said Shawn Dove of Open Society Foundations, which also funds BMe.

Chris Rabb, an adjunct faculty member at Temple University, was awarded $20,000 to develop workshops to teach social entrepreneurship to low-wealth individuals. Rabb, author of Invisible Capital: How Unseen Forces Shape Entrepreneurial Opportunity, said he shows people how to "build commonwealth enterprises" that produce benefits for the community. For example, he described starting a barbershop that was geared toward offering living-wage jobs for ex-offenders who cut hair. What if you could turn something like that into a chain of shops? he asked. Rabb said he expected to hold the workshops this summer.

Michael Gross and Bryheem Charity were awarded $10,000 to promote their efforts to "make science cool" in urban schools. They created S.T.E.A.M. Rising to stir "real interest, a passion, a focus, on science as a career," said Gross, a Drexel University graduate. S.T.E.A.M. represents science, technology, engineering, and math, known in educational circles as "STEM," with the arts included to add the "A," Gross said.

Christopher Norris of South Philadelphia was awarded $5,000 to bolster Techbook Online, a local news outlet for people and stories that are "routinely marginalized and left out of the headlines" of the mainstream media, he said. Norris said the money would help pay for equipment upgrades and for expanding the marketing reach of Techbook Online, which he started with Arthur L. Griffin Jr.

Baltimore Slumlord Watch

Location: Baltimore, MD

Website: www.slumlordwatch.wordpress.com

Baltimore Slumlord Watch was created in January of 2009, as a way for city residents to discuss and share information on Baltimore’s many slumlords.

Started by a resident who was tired of watching out of town “investors” and others destroy neighborhoods as a result of their negligence, we hope this blog will serve as a valuable service to other city residents who are sick of the problems slumlords cause in our communities.

Please note, we do not work for realtors, developers, or property investors, and have no financial interest in property in Baltimore City.

Waterfront Partnership

Location: Baltimore, MD

Website: www.waterfrontpartnership.org

Waterfront Partnership of Baltimore Inc. is proud to serve as our Harbor’s chief advocate, promoter, and steward. In a 2003 Report produced by the Greater Baltimore Committee, a call to action was issued in order to preserve the precious jewel we so often take for granted.

Citing its fragility, the GBC issued a clarion call for renewed attention to our Harbor. Property and business owners, attractions and other waterfront interests responded immediately to the GBC’s call to action.

Working in partnership with the City, by the fall of 2005 the Waterfront Partnership of Baltimore, Inc. was created to manage, promote and advocate on behalf of the waterfront. Currently bounded by the Rusty Scupper on the south and extending round the harbor to Bond Street Wharf.

The Partnership’s Clean, Safe, Hospitality, and Green Teams have worked daily to ensure Baltimore’s Waterfront is clean, friendly and beautiful.