Non-profit organization unites south Baltimore neighborhoods

The SB7 non-profit is all about giving the people a voice and having strength in numbers.

The organization was formed in 2017 to make sure each of the neighborhood associations maintained control of their communities while also providing for the people who live in them.

“We created this new entity in order to ensure that there’s resources being pumped into the South Baltimore communities," says Chenire Carter.

Communities which were cut off from the main part of Baltimore City.

Cherry Hill, Brooklyn, Mount Winans, Lakeland, Westport, Curtis Bay, and the Baltimore Peninsula are all within city limits, yet many of the resources available to the communities are limited. Carter says that is where the non-profit steps in.

“Public safety, transportation, workforce development, education, housing, in the like. So, if you’re in need in any of those ways, but it’s also about economic development and moving these communities forward," says Carter.

She says after years of working directly with people in these neighborhoods, SB7 wants to expand its efforts, but it needs the community's involvement and feedback to do so.

“Many community members were saying after the Brooklyn mass shooting that happened just a year ago that there was just no community spaces. There was no space for, you know, community members to hub, to convene, and really just communicate with each other to make sure that their needs are being met," says Carter.

It's one of the reasons SB7 now has a headquarters. Carter says having a centrally located hub helps to organize the non-profit's work and provides a place for people to get the resources they may need directly.

“It’s remarkable; it really was a manifestation of what a public, private, and governmental partnership really looks like.”

SB7 held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Tuesday, and people got a first look at the new headquarters.

Chenire Carter says it was a special day for her to see the people and neighborhoods unite to help uplift one another.

“When six neighborhoods can come together for one common good, it really is a historic day. We hope that by us being able to do this, we can become a model or an example for other neighborhoods to do across the city.”

Carter says the non-profit wants people to visit the headquarters in Brooklyn to share ideas they have to improve conditions in their neighborhoods.

SB7 will officially open its headquarters to the public on July 1st.