GRIA enjoyed a great year in 2013, from community events to fundraising to winning awards. Here is a (partial!) list of some of the ways the group advocated for Remington and helped make it even greater.
Events
• Hosted Rock Remington Clean, an August event that brought residents together for food, fun and live entertainment.
• Hosted the sixth annual Hauntingdon event on October 26.
• Represented Remington at 2 Live Baltimore events, which attract hundreds of attendees looking to buy houses in the city.
• Partnered with the Greater Homewood’s Day to Pay on May 11 and held an after party at 2701 Sisson with music.
• Hosted two Vacants to Values events to help rid the neighborhood of troubled properties.
Cleaning and Greening
• Distributed 400 free recycle bins to neighborhood residents at Rock Remington Clean.
• Sponsored a neighborhood cleanup that earned Remington second place in the city’s Clean Community Competition, after winning first place last year. (If you won first place last year, you are only able to win second the following year.)
• Helped secure an unprecedented lease agreement from the city for the Making Miles! Community Garden and kept it in the hands of residents.
• Helped Making Miles! allocate a $1,000 Parks and People Foundation grant.
• Persuaded CSX to clean up their fence line and agree to clean it four times a year from now on.
• Supported Community Yard Sales and quarterly “dumpster days” to help keep the neighborhood clean and engage local residents.
• Supplied volunteers for a Friends of Stony Run and Friends of Wyman Park Dell and other events.
Children and families
• Raised $1,500 to purchase school uniforms for local students.
• Worked with with Guardian Angel to secure backpacks and supplies for local students.
• Supported the Porch Art community arts program that provides positive art-based activities after school for neighborhood children
Community outreach
• Won a $30,000 PNC Bank’s Transformative Art grant to fund a metal sculpture, to be placed at the corner of 26th and Howard streets. It’s being designed by Dominic Terlizzi, a MICA professor and artist who also lives in Remington.
• Worked tirelessly on a comprehensive Neighborhood Plan and the City’s Transform Baltimore rezoning project to help attract the potential new businesses and organizations that will provide the most benefit to Remington. The Land Use Committee surveyed each quadrant of Remington to discuss and make suggestions for zoning to improve and protect our community during the upcoming zoning changes for Baltimore City. Through the year, we are working to promote a thriving, diverse community with residential and retail opportunities for all residents.
• Partnered with the Homewood Community Partners Initiative, a community-university coalition with Johns Hopkins University to to work together on mutually beneficial efforts.
• Hosted elected officials, government representatives, business owners and members of law enforcement to monthly meetings so that local residents could ask questions and learn new information.
• Supported Remington Row, a project by Seawall Development to renovate and sell nine vacant houses on Remington Avenue, as well as the 30/13 Project that aimed to renovate 30 houses by the end of 2013.
• Supported the opening of WC Harlan’s, which has been recognized as one of the best bars in Baltimore.
• Supported the move into Remington of Doggie Day Care, the city’s premier doggie day care.
• Ensured that traffic changes requested by GRIA in December 2012 were addressed by the Baltimore City Department of Transportation this year.
Thanks to everyone who donated their time and/or money to all of these efforts. We’re looking forward to another great year in 2014!