From This Collection

A fire in Baltimore threatens effort to rebuild

Nov 16, 2021
And shows why restoring distressed neighborhoods can be so hard.
Shelley Halstead assesses the damage after a fire burned through a building she owns in Baltimore.
Dena Fisher

An abandoned block is reborn in West Baltimore

Nov 10, 2021
In 2019, Poinsetta McKnight was one of the last homeowners living on her block. Now with seven restored homes, “I’m seeing it come up.”
Black Women Build - Baltimore threw a party in October to celebrate the progress on the block.
Amy Scott/Marketplace

Reparations fund will help Black women build houses — and wealth

Apr 29, 2021
A Baltimore church that worked against Black homeownership is now investing in it.
Bryanna Vellines, 28, installs a window frame in an old Baltimore row house.
Amy Scott/Marketplace

A Baltimore church grapples with its racist past

Apr 27, 2021
A personal connection to slavery sparked a reckoning that lead to reparations.
Deacon Natalie Conway stands in front of Memorial Episcopal Church in Baltimore.
Amy Scott/Marketplace

An archaeological dig in urban Baltimore reveals a forgotten past

Jan 7, 2021
It's part of a movement to make the field more accessible and inclusive.
Dena Fisher

New Baltimore development raises questions about what progress really means

Oct 21, 2020
Neighbors fear the affordable housing project will further concentrate poverty in a distressed neighborhood.
A new low-income rental development rises down the street from where Black Women Build - Baltimore is renovating houses for homeownership,
Amy Scott/Marketplace

Transforming a blighted block into a community of Black women homeowners

Aug 11, 2020
A Baltimore program helps Black women build wealth through homeownership.
At 28, Quanshay Henderson bought her first house — and helped restore it —  through Black Women Build.
Amy Scott/Marketplace

For public good, not for profit.

Why can’t Baltimore solve its vacant housing problem?

Jul 8, 2020
Despite thousands of demolitions and rehabs, the number of empty buildings has barely budged for a decade.
A vacant house is for sale on North Payson Street in Baltimore. In 2016, an abandoned building down the block collapsed and killed a man.
Amy Scott/Marketplace