A private fund, assembled by the Greater Baltimore Committee and supplemented by regional arms of two large banks, will soon be made available to community development organizations revitalizing vacant homes throughout Baltimore, a first-of-its-kind gesture by the finance community to intervene in one of the city’s most entrenched problems.
Under a plan unveiled Sunday before an enthusiastic crowd at a West Baltimore church, The PNC Financial Services Group Inc. and Bank of America will take the lead on stitching a preliminary version of the fund together. Under the stewardship of the Greater Baltimore Committee, they intend to raise at least $100 million to spur more development in blighted neighborhoods — including in West Baltimore, where a depressed real estate market has long prevented much-needed redevelopment work from getting done.
But the commitment from the GBC and the banks came with a rebuke of city government and a call for increased speed and focus from the Baltimore City Department of Housing & Community Development. On the pulpit Sunday, standing before a packed house, the Rev. Brent Brown of Greater Harvest Baptist Church handed Mayor Brandon Scott a green folder filled with more than 100 unfulfilled permit applications and other related needs and asked if he would see to them.
Click here to read the rest of the story written by Hallie Miller over at The Baltimore Banner
