Background The Brownfields National Partnership has selected the City of Baltimore as a Brownfields Showcase Community. The city has identified 1,000 acres of vacant and underutilized former industrial sites located throughout Baltimore as potential brownfields. Baltimore's Brownfields Initiative targets properties in the Fairfield and Canton areas, as well as sites in East Baltimore and the southeast and southwest sections of the city, for cleanupand redevelopment. Residents in these low-income,minority communities have been affected by disinvestment and the loss of job opportunities, population decline, a rise in violent crime and high school dropout rates, and harmful environmental conditions which affect public health. Baltimore has attempted to tackle these issues by engaging stakeholders and developing cooperative partnerships with federal, state, and local agencies as part of its Brownfields Initiative.
Community outreach is also a key element of the initiative.
Since the inception of Baltimore's Brownfields Initiative, more than 30 sites have been assessed. Baltimore has formed partnerships with federal, state and local entities to comprehensively address brownfields issues. Showcase Community Objectives and Planned Activities Baltimore plans to use the Showcase Communities project to further access technical and financial resources that would help bring many of its ongoing brownfields redevelopment projects to completion.