At times, the challenges that face Baltimore's neighborhoods may seem overwhelming. Yet, we can all point to successful actions that are making Baltimore a better place to live.

A recent report, “Making Neighborhood Investment Count,” challenges us to work collectively to do more.

The study, supported by local funders, examines Baltimore's community development environment in relation to the comparable cities of Cleveland, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

These cities face similar challenges to Baltimore in terms of loss of population and vacant/abandoned property and, like Baltimore, they have also had some success in reinvigorating neighborhoods and attracting new investment.

While Baltimore is stronger than the comparison cities in several areas, the report shows there is substantial room for improvement in Baltimore's approach to physically improving its neighborhoods.

According to the author, Paul Brophy, Baltimore lags behind the other cities in its clarity of community development goals and the level of investment and leadership from businesses and financial institutions.

Baltimore has key neighborhood revitalization projects with involvement from a broad range of players including community development corporations, private developers, financial institutions, businesses, private foundations and the public sector. Many of these efforts have been successful but our efforts are often fragmented.

Brophy comments that Baltimore lacks a shared vision of what we want to accomplish to improve Baltimore's neighborhoods.

Do we need more options to retain and attract middle class homeowners? Do we need more quality housing for low-income residents? Do we need more tools to stimulate investment? Or is it some combination of the above?

In other cities, where people have banded together with joint energy and a clear plan for what they want to accomplish, they seem to make a difference.

For example, Cleveland's Neighborhood Progress Inc. with strong participation from Cleveland Tomorrow, a civic organization consisting of the chief executives of the largest corporations in northeastern Ohio, has clear goals related to strengthening neighborhood housing markets.

Another citywide group, the Cleveland Housing Network, is focused on affordable housing.

Both strategies are needed in a city that has neighborhoods that are now impoverished but that have the potential for holding and attracting middle-income residents. The report notes that Cleveland has been able to produce almost twice as many housing units for roughly the same investment as Baltimore.

Now is the opportunity for those of us who care about the future of Baltimore's neighborhoods to come together to develop a shared vision and a clear strategy for what we want to accomplish with our collective community development funding and effort.

The funding organizations that commissioned the report have formed the Baltimore Community Development Alliance, in order to align their collective resources to produce healthier housing conditions and housing markets for the diverse residents of Baltimore City neighborhoods.

Working in collaboration with the public sector, business and non-profit partners, BCDA intends to develop a clear vision for investing in the physical improvement of neighborhoods, create a better coordinated system, and increase the total resources available for these investment activities.

I encourage anyone who wants to be a partner in this effort to contact the Baltimore Community Development Alliance. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Betsy Nelson is executive director of the Association of Baltimore Area Grantmakers. Her column appears every other week. She can be contacted at bnelson@abagmd.org.