Fresh Paint, Positive Messaging Lead a Park Transformation in East Baltimore

After years of neglect, a local Baltimore park and playground received a much needed facelift thanks to a volunteer beautification project powered by a local non-profit organization Projectivity Group and local ministry Beyond The Walls Christian Ministry. Community organizers met with current and past residents of the Aiken St. community in the Oliver neighborhood district to devise a plan to transform and beautify the local park.  After the Baltimore Parks Department and local stakeholders approved the designs, the community got to work!

Pastor Lamont Brown grew up near the playground and continues to serve the community through his church, Beyond the Walls Ministry. “In my 40 years of living, I have never seen such vibrancy and life displayed from OUR playground. Thank you to every laborer who invested in this long awaited ‘next step’ towards building a brighter community for the families of the Lafayette AikenStreet neighborhood. Christian Penn, you and your team at Thrive Collective & Projectivity are nothing short of amazing. While we have a long way to go with The Nehemiah Project: Operation Restoration, we thank God for yet another major step in the right direction. Beyond, your pastor loves and appreciates you for running with the vision.”

The Aiken St. Playground located at the intersection of Aiken St. and Lafayette Ave. has been a  staple in the community dating back to Ms. Geneva’s store (a neighborhood matriarch).  It is where generations of Baltimore residents came to play as young kids.  During the 1990’s and early 2000s, the neighborhood faced familiar challenges, and slowly the young kids playing on the playground and in the basketball courts were replaced by the drug trade, with dealers and users alike taking claim to the park.  For years, the park has not been used for its intended purpose and there was even a fence and gate erected around it to attempt to curb the misuse.  But after the ribbon cutting to celebrate the new beautification, there is a revitalized hope and motivation to restore the playground to its former glory and see it used again by the next generation of Baltimore youth.

The beautification project was led and sponsored by Projectivity Group, a local arts non-profit whose mission to provide education, resources, and opportunities in the arts in partnership with Thrive Collective, a similar arts non-profit.  After 15 years operating in NYC, they have recently expanded with a new chapter in the Baltimore/DMV area.  Projectivity founder, Christian Penn, met one of the past residents, Lamont Brown, who’s local ministry, Beyond The Walls (BTW), has been instrumental in revitalizing the community and transforming the park.  BTW hosts back to school giveaways, holiday gift giveaways, and other outreach events in the Aiken St. playground and was looking for support to help beautify the space.  It was an obvious collaboration, and the two organizers came together to inspire the neighborhood residents to help paint and transform the park.

Special thank you to Somebody Cares Baltimore for making all the connections and supporting this grassroots transformation.

Photos by K View Visuals, Sharrod Jones, and Christian Penn. Art by Christian Penn.