Support BRACE

The Baltimore Redevelopment Action Coalition for Empowerment (BRACE) is a community organization in the Middle East neighborhood. BRACE’s mission is to foster racial equity and boost jobs and justice for former and remaining Middle East residents, as well as Baltimore City residents overall.

Housing Security: Houses to Homes

BRACE is rooted in the legacy of Middle East Baltimore as a historic Black neighborhood that provided a haven for Black people fleeing racial violence during the Great Migration. In the early 2000s, Johns Hopkins, under the guise of the public-private partnership called East Baltimore Development, Inc. (EBDI), displaced over 700 families from the Middle East community. This project disrupted the fabric of Black communities to create gentrified neighborhoods for predominantly wealthy white newcomers, while pushing Black residents out of their homes and neglecting their needs. Community residents formed the Save Middle East Action Committee (SMEAC) to ensure resident voices were included as much as possible in the redevelopment process. After SMEAC disbanded, BRACE picked up the mantle of fighting for the rights of residents in Middle East Baltimore.

 BRACE's mission is inseparable from the fight for housing security in Baltimore. BRACE's team understands that in order to create homes for the vulnerable, there must be a focus not only on buildings, but also on people. More to come on this soon!

Middle East Baltimore Memory Mural Project

The Middle East Baltimore Memory Project is a public archive/mural made in collaboration with Molly Hurley, Ky Vassor, community members and community leader Donald Gresham. The mural project honors the contributions of Benjamin Baylor Sr., Lucille Gorham, Pat Tracey, and Lisa Williams to protecting the Middle East Baltimore community from forced displacement and gentrification. The public archive contains over 150 historic images from the neighborhood’s various community organizations, present-day photos, and under highlighted leaders.