RISE
In 2008 South Baltimore’s 21226 zip code registered the highest quantity of toxic air emissions from stationary sources in the nation. In 2009, the proposal to build the largest trash burning incinerator in US history less than a mile from two schools in Curtis Bay was green-lit by state and local officials.
Led by high school students from Benjamin Franklin High School and local residents, we reacted to the newly proposed incinerator questioning how a development of this magnitude could gain political and institutional acceptance given the presence of two large incinerators and the City’s landfill already surrounding our communities.
Over a period of 5 years we struggled and eventually won in the face of this latest threat to the health of our community.
RECLAIM
Through our research and action, we began to believe in our ability to lead towards a new vision for the development of our communities that put our land and lives first.
As we educated ourselves we started teaching our friends, neighbors, and parents what we learned. Eventually, we understood the incinerator development as a new chapter in a centuries long history of South Baltimore’s role as a regional destination for hazardous waste disposal at the direct cost of our lives, jobs and homes. We started making connections between the history of toxic development in our community and the hundreds of vacant and blighted homes that marked our daily walks to schools, stores and parks. Later we learned about the displacement of entire communities to make way for the infrastructure to burn and bury more and more waste.
We knew we needed to build new tools and structures that we governed if we wanted to meaningfully break from a past that routinely imposed unacceptable harms on us. What if we the community reclaimed ownership and control of what happens in our community?
Our vision for a future South Baltimore began to take shape:
- Healthy, clean, and stable neighborhoods for all in South Baltimore, with new infrastructure that regenerates our planet and local economies
- Land restored to community ownership (away from speculators) & power restored to the community (away from extractive industries)
REBUILD
SBCLT was born out of this realization. We launched South Baltimore Community Land Trust as an organization with a clear mission to facilitate the implementation of a new vision for community-owned development without displacement and zero waste in Baltimore. We believe that people directly impacted by environmental, economic, and racial injustice must be in the lead to create development and transform communities.
Today, our work is centered around two interconnected priority areas:
Affordable housing development & cultivating homeownership
SBCLT creates development without displacement through renovations of vacant homes and construction of new homes on vacant land. All homes created and sold by SBCLT will remain permanently affordable, thereby securing opportunity for generations to come. In our housing stewardship program, we equip first-time homebuyers at 50% AMI or below with tools and resources and accompany them every step of the way.
Environmental justice action, research, and education
SBCLT is a movement for a just transition to zero waste. We hold systems accountable and call on our elected leaders to develop infrastructure that moves Baltimore away from reliance on toxic practices of burning, burying, and extraction that are harmful to our communities, our health, and our planet. We train citizen scientists of all ages so that community members lead the way in our zero waste future.
Our Story Continues
SBCLT’s history continues to unfold through our ongoing advocacy, action, and development taking place in South Baltimore today. Read the latest to see how you can become part of the story!
