Real Time Community Change

Conventional wisdom says...

Leave development to the experts.

Change always takes a long time.

It's the process that counts.

Start with a needs assessment.

Each year, through CPHA's Real Time Community Change program, funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, motivated citizens, or "sparkplugs," recruit teams to do remarkable work in their communities. Each team presented their story about the journeys taken including their successes and lessons learned. This year's Sparkplug projects included:

• Going Green - recycling in public housing by engaging residents through youth advocates (Cherry Hill)
• Mis Raices/My Roots - mentoring Latino parents to raise their children in a different culture, accessing resources and understanding language and cultural differences (Patterson Park)
• Native American Living Legacy Project - engaging Native American youth to preserve their heritage through culture, oral history, agriculture, and community art and mapping (Southeast Baltimore)
• Family Matters Reading Book Club - boosting youth literacy through a book club for youth and family focused on books about African American historical figures (Cherry Hill)
• Fighting youth obesity through summer swim camp and after-school African drumming and dance (Cherry Hill)
• Northwood Rising Stars - teaching test-taking skills through youth to youth mentoring (Northwood)
• Its All About the KIDS! - Reducing crime and negative behavior by teens by including them in the planning and execution of possible solutions using physical activity at the local recreation center, which typically does not attract teens (Cherry Hill)
• Holistic Hip-Hop for Adolescent Training - training teens in pro-social skills to combat negative gang activity through hip-hop including rap, graffiti art, street language, and break dancing (Druid Heights and Madison Park)
• Urban Vitality - uses theater and visual arts to change the behavior of residents around the problem of sanitation with participation by both youth and adults (Druid Hill)