Image Why Investing in Community-Led Initiatives Is Crucial to Helping Families Thrive

"When my grandfather migrated here from the South," Lezley Lewis explains, "Pennsylvania Avenue was the place to be."

Running through the center of one of Baltimore's oldest Black middle-class communities, Pennsylvania Avenue was a hub of Black culture and civil rights activism in the early- to mid-20th century.

That neighborhood, known today as Upton and Druid Heights, has since "transformed," says Lewis, assistant director of the Rise Family Support Center. Redlining, racial disparities in incarceration, chronic disinvestment, and other forms of structural racism have systematically harmed families in Upton and Druid Heights. More than half of children live in poverty, and the average life expectancy in the neighborhood is 10 years less than in Baltimore overall.

Despite these systemic barriers, community members are driving changes in the neighborhood to ensure families get the support they need to live healthy and successful lives. For more than a decade, resident outreach and community health workers with the Promise Heights initiative have visited barbershops, knocked on doors, and led support groups. Their goal is not only to set up young people for success in school and life but also to connect pregnant and parenting people with services and help families achieve stability.

Due in large part to one outreach program, B'more for Healthy Babies, the neighborhood cut its infant mortality rate by 75 percent between 2009 to 2019. Other Promise Heights programs have increased the number of children ready for kindergarten and improved educational outcomes among elementary and middle school students.

"There's so much value in the communities that we work in," Lewis says, "but there's definitely a lack of [outside] understanding of the systems that…keep these communities where they are." Residents, however, know firsthand the problems facing their community-and how to fix them. By trusting and investing in community members, the Promise Heights initiative has provided residents with the tools they need to advocate and develop solutions tailored to their community.

Today, the initiative's work and community-led programming continues through the University of Maryland School of Social Work's Center for Restorative Change. The new center will house both B'more for Healthy Babies and the recently launched Rise Family Support Center, which will help families work toward their goals, including finding employment, securing stable housing, and obtaining a driver's license. As Lewis explains, the Center for Restorative Change aims to provide the community with the resources they need to push back on the systemic barriers facing the neighborhood.

To learn more about these programs, we spoke to Lewis and four community advocates and leaders working with B'more for Healthy Babies. We asked them, "Why are community-led initiatives crucial to helping children and families lead healthy, successful lives?"

Their answers demonstrate why community-engaged and community-led initiatives work: residents tap into their community's strengths and lead the changes they want to see. To help their neighborhood thrive, community leaders in Upton and Druid Heights are not just investing in young people but providing supports to all members of the community.

"The families [came] together."

Giselle Joseph

Giselle Joseph, community health outreach worker at B'more for Healthy Babies and certified lactation specialist

I support a focus group with the [University of Maryland School of Dentistry], and four moms from [B'more for Healthy Babies] are a part of the board...[The moms] are leading a lot of that work, and they're training right now to be community health workers. And they're from the community. That's what that looks like: they're advocating for the moms in the community and also trying to…provide resources for the families in the community.

It's powerful, because that's what you're supposed to do. You come in to support people in the community, and you give them the tools and the resources to do what they need to do, and now they're actually doing that work from their own autonomy.

A lot of the families that attend our groups, they [don't] just meet each other for one day…They have created lasting relationships within the community and created their own sisterhood within the community. Whereas, if a mom needed extra milk and Pampers…there's another mom that says, "Oh, I have extra milk. I'll drop it off to you." "I have extra clothes," from another mom. "I'll drop it off to you." So, that's the relationship being created with the network of [B'more for Healthy Babies], Promise Heights, [and the] Center for Restorative Change too.

These groups have been so productive and sustainable within the community that I can say that I want other communities to be like Upton and Druid Heights. The families [came] together.

"I see what they see."

Celestine (Celeste) Tolliver

Celestine (Celeste) Tolliver, community health outreach worker at B'more for Healthy Babies

[This work] means a lot because I have grandchildren growing up in this community. My daughter has been a part of [the B'more for Healthy Babies] program…[Her family has] been in the program for 10 years, and to see how the program has helped them and has helped other families-yeah, that's what I like. I like to see that.

And a lot of the families that I [work with] live around here, so when they see me after hours or outside, we may sit outside and talk. Not only am I their resource person, I'm a friend in the neighborhood that they can talk to.

Because I live in the same community that I work, I believe a lot of my families feel comfortable with me because I see what they see. People that don't live here, you know, [they] hear the stories, [they] might read about something. But when I walk out my door and I'm looking, I'm looking at what they looking at.

So, I can relate to them. There's no judgment. No judgment. They open up to me a little bit better, because they understand that I see what they see. If I was somebody else, then they probably would feel a little on edge with opening up to me, talking to me, because they wouldn't want to be judged. But it's no judgment.

"When I pass you the baton, I got to make sure it's not too heavy for you to carry."

Deon Jones

Deon Jones, founder and facilitator of Uncommon Dialogue and independent contractor with B'more for Healthy Babies

I was incarcerated for 23 years. I went to prison at the age of 20, so I was extremely young...In the process of that transition, I became a man in prison, and I was forced to have to survive in ways that I never could fathom. There's no blueprint of how to survive in that kind of environment. So, I read a lot. I studied a lot. I acquired chess skills...Chess is what really helped me navigate through prison…in a safe manner, and I was still able to maintain my dignity and my self-respect.

I had a vision that if I ever got out, I wanted to be able to take this mentality and this mindset to my community and teach them the strategies that I used to navigate through some difficult situations in a positive, transformative way.

So, I came up with a group called "Uncommon Dialogue." I call it Uncommon Dialogue, because our dialogue is what most men are afraid to discuss and share with one another. A lot of times, we repress anger and unresolved issues, and it turns into misplaced anger because we don't know how to process what we're going through. I wanted to take that kind of information and bring it to my community, because if I can help change the ones where I came from, then, hopefully, it can spread.

I think…that we're responsible for what comes behind us, so we got to give [young men] everything that they need so that they can carry on…It's almost like a relay race. I run my part of the race, and I got to pass the baton. But when I pass you the baton, I got to make sure it's not too heavy for you to carry. I got to make sure I give it to you properly, so that you can have the best start possible.

"Mr. Mike's here every day."

Michael Gordon

Michael Gordon, father, parent leader, and advocate with B'more for Healthy Babies

Where I'm from, you see a lot of stuff that you wouldn't normally see. And me being me, it gets me upset, 'cause I have children of my own and I want the best for my children, you know?

Someone from outside of my community can come in and do the same thing I'm doing. But [the kids] are gonna also know, "Listen, when this guy leave, he take everything with him…[But] Mr. Mike's here every day. We can go to Mr. Mike's house if we're in trouble, if we need somebody to talk to." The kids know they can come here and get X, Y, Z from me. And they know if they come back tomorrow, I will still be here…I'm not going to leave them or anything.

It's just all about being consistent. Kids want consistency. Everybody want consistency…Even if the kids don't know it yet, they still want something that's consistent. Because they know when they wake up, you know, "Oh, I'm going to Mr. Mike's today. Mr. Mike's got the snowballs today"…It don't matter what it is. It don't matter if it's a piece of advice, you know? [It's] just being someone they can count on. Just being someone the neighborhood can count on.

"People have their own power. What we do is partner with them."

Lezley Lewis

Lezley Lewis, assistant director of the Rise Family Support Center at the Center for Restorative Change

Family support centers [have] been around in Maryland since 1985. However, the family support center model that [the Rise Family Support Center] aims to execute in the community is something that is very new. [We're] providing services to caregivers, not just biological parents or teen moms…[And we] work with caregivers of all ages. The only qualification to participate is having a child within our age group, which is birth to age 5.

When we work with families, we don't empower them. We cannot give anyone power. People have their own power. What we do is partner with them. We stand next to them. We stand behind them when they want us to stand behind them. We stand in front of them when they need us to stand in front of them to utilize the power that they have within them to make the change that they want to see.

When we partner with families, we don't say, "Hey, this is what you need to be doing." We build relationships with them. Through relationships, they're able to create their own goals and say, "Hey, I want to do this. This is something that I want for my life, for my children, for my family," and together we make goals. And we work with them to execute and achieve the goals that they've created themselves.

We're working with families to create the change within their homes but then also teaching them how to organize within their community to create the change…that needs to take place.

Project Credits

This feature was funded by the US Department of Education and the Center for Restorative Change as part of the Urban Institute's evaluation of the Promise Heights Promise Neighborhoods grant. We are grateful to them and to all our funders, who make it possible for Urban to advance its mission. The views expressed are those of the authors and should not be attributed to the Urban Institute, its trustees, or its funders. Funders do not determine research findings or the insights and recommendations of our experts. More information on our funding principles is available here. Read our terms of service here.

RESEARCHLauren Farrell, Susan Popkin, Diane K. Levy, Alexa Kort, Nina Russell, Lauren Fung

DEVELOPMENTJerry Ta

EDITING Irene Koo

PHOTOGRAPHY AND DESIGN Alyssa Schukar

WRITINGDana Ferrante

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