Community Update Newsletter
Mobilizing For Sustainable Development
Volume 1, Issue 1 Winter, 2007 Sojourner-Douglass College
Sojourner-Douglass College Supports Residents
As an institution established by the community, Sojourner-Douglass College has a very different approach to solving community problems; which is, quite naturally, a bottom up process. The residents are vital–not an afterthought. In fact, the issue of community revitalization begins with the residents. Likewise, despite the common view of urban residents as incapable, Sojourner-Douglass College views residents as intelligent people who understand the ways of community development, but lack the means. This is the linchpin upon which gentrification's continued success hinges: the residents´ lack of resources for their own self–and community development. Therefore, in partnership with select community development stakeholders and resident leaders, Sojourner-Douglass College is assembling at the East Baltimore campus a full array of capacity building resources that the residents lack. Designed to address the challenges comprehensively and long-term, these resources will focus on the following key areas: generational education, employment opportunities w/livable wages, and affordable housing/economic development. Building residents´ capacity to participate as partners with other stakeholders in transforming the community is commonsense, more equitable, and a proactive solution to the problem of gentrification.
