A homeless shelter based in Sandtown is getting some help from the federal government and the Chesapeake Bay Trust to make its part of 1100 block North Mount Street a bit greener.
The Trust and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Tuesday that Sarah's Hope will receive $75,000 towards a project that involves removing more than 700 square feet of pavement in front of the building and replacing it with grass and 16 trees. The shelter is one of 15 grantees in the Green Streets, Green Towns, Green Jobs Grant Initiative.
The project, expected to cost more than $1 million, is being developed with help from the Baltimore City Department of General Services, the Mayor's Office of Human Services and the Parks and People Foundation.
It is the second part of a renovation project for the shelter.
"We embarked upon a year-long construction and renovation of the facility to expand the capacity to 130 beds and also to be able to accommodate intact families; meaning families with fathers; families with older teenage boys," said John Schiavone, president and CEO of St. Vincent de Paul of Baltimore, which operates the shelter.
Sarah's Hope is located one block from Baltimore Police Department Western District headquarters, scene of one of the protests after the death in police custody of Freddie Gray in April.
Schiavone said construction on the green space is expected to begin next February and be completed by September. The effort to beautify the space in and around the shelter will be a symbol of investment in Sandtown, he said.
"When it is completed, the community will be able to not only look to this site as a positive improvement aesthetically," Schiavone said, “but also actually come on to the site and take advantage of the place and the recreation space that it will afford once it's fully greened."