Project JumpStart and Cross Street Partners are teaming up with City Life Community Builders to rehabilitate 8 vacant houses on East Biddle Street for first time and low-income homebuyers. This redevelopment project is adjacent to ABC’s new Construction Education Academy. Though the number of vacant houses in the area has decreased dramatically since the $27 million restoration of the Hoen Lithographic Building, of which ABC is the largest tenant, there are still several houses that are in need of redevelopment.
The grant, through a program created called Blocks of Blight to Bright, will fund a pilot project that will create employment opportunities for 6 Project JumpStart students who are also low-income Baltimore City residents. These Project JumpStart students will be receiving on-the-job training as they actively work on the project to redevelop the home, but it will also create a pathway for JumpStart graduates to purchase the home on which they worked. Homebuying assistance and financial literacy will also be offered in this pilot program. “Our experience has been once a JumpStart graduate gets placed and progresses through their career, that when they buy their first home, it is often in the County. We would love to create more home ownership opportunities directly in the City,” said Project JumpStart Executive Director James Stewart.
