The question Dan Ellis, executive director of Neighborhood Housing Services (NHS) of Baltimore, asked himself after Freddie Gray’s death in police custody in 2015 was this: What role did we play in creating the need for an uprising? He asked himself a follow-up question, too: What are we going to do to make sure an uprising in Baltimore is never needed again?
In the months that followed, he and his staff contemplated those questions. The answers, which were embedded in listening to what the people of West Baltimore wanted before making any improvements, even became one of his projects for the NeighborWorks Achieving Excellence Program the following year.
Until that time, NHS of Baltimore, one of the first NeighborWorks network organizations, had worked on preparing people for homeownership and making sure they could stay in those homes through home repairs and more. But after that time, they moved into developing communities as well.
“We do what we do by talking to the community and listening to the community,” he said. “We have to knock on doors. Go to the block festivals. Go to where the people are.”
It’s taken time. But in early November, as he conducted tours of West Baltimore during NeighborWorks Community Leadership Institute, he was able to point to changes in the community – and successes, homes restored and a food hall, the Mill on North, expected to open, once permits come through, at the beginning of 2025. He also pointed to successes to come: A neighborhood that has 500 vacant properties. NHS of Baltimore’s goal is to have them all rehabbed and owned in the next decade.
“We help 250 families a year get keys,” Ellis told the 40 resident leaders and staff members who boarded the bus to tour West Baltimore.
Highlights included The Urban Oasis, a green space for outdoor events and popups, a stage and a gated alleyway that has unified the Panway community. “Welcome to Narnia,” Arica Gonzalez, who spearheaded the nonprofit, said as she opened the gate. NeighborWorks presented Gonzalez with a Dorothy Richardson Award for Resident Leadership in honor of her work. 
She spoke of her partnership with NHS of Baltimore, which funded the gate and held an empty lot for her while her nonprofit was awaiting approval of its nonprofit status. “A ‘yes’ opens up a world of possibilities,” she said.
Another highlight of the tour included a visit to the future home of Sombo Hilton, which is under contract and will close before the holidays. One of the pledges NHS of Baltimore made a few years ago was to raise the salaries of employees so that they would be able to afford some of the homes that 
the organization was rehabbing and selling. Hilton is the first employee to purchase one of the organization’s homes, and on Saturday, she led 40 people on a tour. Her children, who live nearby, surprised her, and were able to see the inside for the first time.
“When I walked into this house it was like ‘Ahhh. This is mine,’” said Hilton, a lead intake specialist for NHS of Baltimore, where she has worked for 11 years.
She showed off the amenities: an open kitchen, an upstairs and a downstairs. “And don’t forget the white picket fence!” she added. She trusts her organization, she said. “And that’s what my decision was based on. I know they do good work. I’m going to be the poster girl for NHS. I love that.”
Hilton said she’s transparent with NHS clients, telling them her story, which included a foreclosure years ago. Ellis knew her story, too. “And he said, ‘You know what? We’re going to work through this.’” She should move in officially by Christmas.
