In the summer of 1995, volunteer residents, businesses, organizations, and institutions came together to found the York Road Partnership - an umbrella organization to unite people across a  distinct racial divide represented by York Road. Involved founders created three Action Group: Residential, York Road, and Economic Development—as well as a list of short and long-term goals. Concerns included crime, neighborhood deterioration, trash, liquor license violations, and open air drug markets. To improve the commercial corridor, members wanted to see increased support for local businesses, fewer liquor stores and a study of the market to attract businesses to meet the needs of the community. Volunteers began working together on issues they cared about including organizing Hands Across York Road clean up events.

Planning Together to Build Community Beginning in 2003, YRP worked with the City Planning Department to start the community process to develop a "Strategic Neighborhood Action Plan" (SNAP). The process involved large town hall meetings bringing together hundreds of people across York Road from every neighborhood as well as dozens of meetings to help YRP establish a vision vetted by the community for how the area should change and grow. YRP drafted a SNAP Plan and presented it to the membership in Dec. 2023. The draft was revised and regrouped and the final plan was adopted by the city in 2006. 

Taking Action By 2005, YRP had representation from 25 neighborhoods and monthly meetings had become one of the most diverse forums in the city. YRP advocated for better city services and action, including on several issues: 

• Vacant Homes: In 2006, YRP Board member Dan Ellis mapped every vacant home in the YRP catchment area revealing a cluster of over 40 homes on McCabe Ave, most owned by the City of Baltimore - an unacceptable concentration of blight. YRP, working with then-Councilman Kenneth Harris, brought the Housing Commissioner, Paul Graziano to tour the street with neighbors and attend a large YRP general meeting. At this meeting, YRP formally asked the Commissioner to commit to:  1) Clean up the City-owned houses and enforce the code on other vacants, 2) Consolidate ownership, having the city acquire the vacants it didn't own, then 3) Bundle the properties for development for homeownership. Shocked at the condition of the properties and surprised at the organized voice of the community, the Commissioner agreed to the asks. Code enforcement and clean up began. A few homes were too far gone and were demolished. Development was delayed for several years by the Great Recession, but eventually Habitat for Humanity took on the task of redeveloping the homes for affordable homeownership. Several churches and nonprofits added efforts to support other neighborhood improvements and supporting neighborhood leaders. 

• Fighting Bad Liquor Businesses: YRP focused on problem businesses, partnering with the Community Law Center to take aggressive action against problem liquor establishments. YRP opposed license transfers, renewals and demanding that the Liquor Board step up enforcement.  The community felt there were too many liquor stores, several that attracted trash, crime and violence. YRP closely monitored Liquor Board hearing notices and organized large turnout at hearings and at meetings with liquor store and bar owners, to discuss business plans and negotiate written agreements to limit bad business practices. Over the years YRP's action has resulted in closing down 5 problem liquor establishments,  and preventing new liquor stores from locating on the corridor.

• Cleaning, Greening and Public Spaces: Led by longtime volunteer Helene Perry, the Public Spaces and Greening Committee collaborated with Loyola University, businesses to drive the state and city streetscaping projects, advocating for more pedestrian lighting, benches, trash cans and trees to beautify the corridor. The Committee and Loyola's York Road Initiative organized scores of cleaning and greening events powered by students and community volunteers who picked up trash, cleaned tree pits, planted perennials and yellow pansies. With significant help from Loyola and Committee volunteers cleaned, removed dead trees and invasive vines from the forested area next to the CVS in the 5200 block, creating the Govans Urban Forest. This committee continues to work on a variety of cleaning and greening and operates as a joint committee with the new Business Improvement District. 

• Addressing Derelict Commercial Properties: YRP has been active in asking the city to do code enforcement on vacant and problem properties.  In the 2000s, YRP asked the City to address a large, derelict property, 5315 York Road, an empty grocery store and large parking lot. The City rebuffed YRP's request for redevelopment by eminent domain. A Family Dollar store filled the space (not a grocery store that the community wanted) and was poorly maintained, its exterior strewn with trash. YRP and Woodbourne McCabe residents spent significant time pushing the City to do code enforcement. This property still represents an opportunity to develop something that would truly serve the community.

• Collaboration with Loyola: In 2009, Loyola established its York Road Initiative, led by Erin O'Keefe, who worked hand in hand with YRP volunteers to support positive efforts on the corridor. leveraging its staff, student volunteers and resources as a local anchor institution. Providing backbone support to YRP, and informed by a "Loyola is Listening" campaign that sought broad community input, Loyola supported and amplified YRP efforts - in ways too numerous to list. This included: donating staff time to support administrative and organizational work, hosting YRP retreats, opening and operating a Farmers Market at their 5104 York Rd property, organizing hundreds of students to help drive YRP's corridor cleaning and greening, raising funds to install a series of bird murals along York Road.  In 2012 Loyola, working with Councilman Bill Henry, YRP and other organizations to organize the York Corridor Collective to focus on improving the commercial corridor. Loyola raised funds to bring an Urban Land Institute TAP (Technical Assistance Panel) panel to study the commercial corridor. With funding from Goldseker Foundation, a commercial corridor plan was completed in 2014 and approved by the City Planning Commission in 2015. This plan has as a major recommendation, the formation of a Business Improvement District, which now, after nearly a decade exists - and is providing cleaning, greening and safety services. 

• Education Advocacy: In 2011, YRP join the Baltimore Education Coalition to fight state education funding cuts for Baltimore and to push for the passage of the 21st Century Schools bills to leverage just under a billion dollars to renovate and replace substandard school buildings. YRP volunteers provided critical advocacy efforts and turnout as part of the 43rd District Team of BEC. Efforts paid of with the passage of the bills in Annapolis in 2013. City Schools chose 28 schools to rebuild or renovate and two schools in our community! Both Govans Elementary and Walter P. Carter Elem/Middle have brand new school buildings.  

• Bringing State Revitalization Funds to York Road: In 2019, Loyola and Strong City Baltimore staff helped York Road Partnership and GEDCO craft a revitalization plan for the Baltimore Regional Neighborhood Initiative (BRNI) at the Maryland Dept. of Housing and Community Development. Since 2019, our annual requests have helped bring more than $2.2 million in revitalization funds to the corridor, including:

  • • More than $750,000 for senior home repair through Rebuilding Together Baltimore

    • $100,000 to help Habitat for Humanity renovate three vacant homes in Woodbourne McCabe for affordable homeownership.

    • $55,000 to fund seven facade improvements on the commercial corridor.

    • $550,000 to help GEDCO bring their headquarters from Stadium Place back to the York Road corridor.

    • $150,000 to help Invest York Road purchase the vacant Flight Restaurant space.

    • $100,000 to help the new York Road Improvement District improve and activate the Bellona Triangle green space.

    • $225,000 in SEED funds to help Loyola renovate their 5104 York Road building for community use.

• Fighting the Location of a Human Crematorium: Since 2020 YRP volunteers have been fighting against the location of a human crematorium at the Vaughn Greene Funeral Services, a location within 150 feet of residences in a densely packed neighborhood. At the Zoning Board, in District and Appellate Court, at the MD Dept of the Environment (MDE), hundreds of community members  opposed putting a new pollution source in a location near homes and with documented elevated levels of asthma, COPD and other conditions and diseases made worse by air pollution. YRP has made the case that this is environmental injustice and indeed the MDE ranks this location on its Environmental Justice scoring rubric as a 95 - a location already overburdened and one of the worst places to locate a new pollution source. Undeterred, Vaughn Greene is pushing on with construction since he now has permits. MDE's permit conditions do not include ongoing smokestack testing, which the community advocated for - hundreds turning out to MDE meetings and a hearing. YRP volunteers will continue to engage and monitor and are looking to next steps, perhaps an Environmental Justice committee.