THE HARRY AND JEANETTE WEINBERG FOUNDATION, INC.

Michael M. Mazepink
People's Homesteading Group, Inc.
410 East North Avenue
Baltimore, MD 21202
www.phghouse.org

Contact Information
ph: (410) 889-0071
fax: (410) 889-0652
e-mail: mmmazepink@aol.com

Mission: People's Homesteading Group is dedicated to providing low and moderate income families with decent, affordable housing in a safe vibrant neighborhood. We achieve this mission by converting vacant houses into homes for these families. Through a combination of sweat equity, conventional rehabilitation and neighborhood transformation strategies, People's Homesteading Group creates home ownership opportunities, increases family assets, expands community participation, builds community leadership and stimulates positive street activity. PHG fulfills its mission through three programs: first, Housing Development, second, home ownership counseling and, third, neighborhood transformation of the Greenmount Avenue corridor between East North Avenue and East 25th Street.

Summary of Programs and Services (see legend): C, HO, Other (Home Ownership Counseling, Greening and Gardening, Vacant House Safety, Community Planning)

Description of Programs and Services: PHG operates under the strategy called "Anchors of Hope in the Greenmount Community." Through the housing development program, PHG rehabilitated homes for low-income families, several for sale and others transitional housing units. The PHG home ownership counseling program provides intensive credit analysis and family budgeting and support for 120 families per year. PHG connects many of these families to job training, general education, child care, job opportunity referrals and other services. We do not provide these services directly but have worked with a wide network of Baltimore service providers. Through the neighborhood transformation program, PHG provides 2 staff persons to support the Greenmount Community Planning Council, an association of residents, that works to deliver three initiatives to the Greenmount community: first, community gardening of 13 vacant lots carried out by 25 adults and with youth of the Franciscan Youth Center; second, vacant house safety campaign which focuses on cleaning and boarding abandoned property that may become fire hazards to adjacent occupied properties and involves 16 residents who act as monitors of the boarded houses; and third, community planning involving design workshops with active leaders, other residents, neighborhood institutions and business in development of a plan to guide the physical redevelopment of this devastated neighborhood along Greenmount Avenue from East 25th Street to East North Avenue.

Total number of people served: 2,000

Return to Participants Page

Legend: