BALTIMORE — A group of more than 20 organizations has come together to pour hope back into the Sandtown-Winchester community. The “Showdown for Sandtown” group hit the ground running after launching in January of 2023.
They hold “Pop-up Game Days” for the kids and their families along with other events that give people in the neighborhood something to look forward to on a consistent basis.
Meanwhile, there’s a project that the group has made a top priority in getting things in the neighborhood trending back in a positive direction; the Lillian Jones Rec Center. The center has been closed for nearly two years and people with the organization say its left kids in the area with no place to go. They talked about why getting the Lillian Jones Rec center back open is so important to the community.
“There’s so many pit falls for children to fall into so having a rec center open gives them an outlet, an opportunity and maybe see things they wouldn’t regularly see and to challenge them to be better,” ‘Showdown for Sandtown’ spokesperson, Erika Whitney Young said.
While they work to get a petition for the center to be renovated and reopened by December of 2023, they want to also bridge the gap between the many issues that concern the residents of Sandtown-Winchester and the resources from city leaders that can make real change.
"We like to connect the community with the resources, and we inform the resources on what the community needs,” she said.
While they’ve done a lot in a short time, they plan to do a lot more to put Sandtown-Winchester back on the map and in the spotlight for positive reasons.
“We’re going toe-to-toe for Sandtown,” Young said. “We’re tired of being ignored. The community cares and we’re a part of Baltimore just like anybody else.”
If you’d like to be a part of the effort to bring back the Lillian Jones Rec Center, click the link.
