Civic Works

WHILE sparks may fly about other details of President Clinton's economic plan, his national service proposal will send powerful beacons of opportunity and hope to America's youth. Some early beams have already been sighted in Baltimore.Although the final details of the president's plan have not been announced, the goal is to offer young adults loans for college or job training in exchange for a year or two of service.Young men and women will act as neighborhood police, teachers' aides, assistants in community health centers.

Less than four years ago, Bill Harmon lived hand to mouth on the streets of Baltimore, struggled with a drug addiction that depleted his savings and had no prospects for a job with a future. These days, a drug-free Harmon has a job he believes is the future, thanks to a green careers training program run by Civic Works, Baltimore's urban service corps. Harmon, 56, works as a field technician in the burgeoning environmental industry, where he tests for contaminated soil on construction sites and helps contain hazardous material during demolitions.

Civic Works, the kind of youth service corps being championed by President Clinton as part of his domestic agenda to reshape America, officially kicked off its Baltimore program yesterday.At Civic Works, housed in the historic Clifton Mansion in Northeast Baltimore, 25 males and females, who range in ages from 17 to 25, will learn carpentry, landscaping, construction skills and health care.Civic Works' officials hope that with those skills will come self-esteem and pride in teamwork and the place where they live.

The Open Society Institute of Baltimore, a foundation funded by billionaire philanthropist George Soros, is giving $1.5 million to four city nonprofits for job training for low-income residents. The award will be accompanied by another $1.5 million of state and federal funds. The $3 million in funding will help provide job training and placement services to 141 people with criminal convictions who otherwise would be unable to find work. The four nonprofits receiving funding are the Center for Urban Families, Civic Works, Group Ministries and the Job Opportunities Task Force.

Armed with hammers and construction helmets and wearing their signature red T-shirts, seven youths from inner-city Baltimore set out yesterday to make a neighborhood a little safer and to work toward a successful future.Members of Civic Works, a city program for training youths, they were in Reservoir Hill boarding up their 500th vacant home.The sounds of electric drills and the pounding of hammers attracted the attention of curious children and adults who watched from upstairs windows and front stoops as the youths climbed ladders and carried plywood outside the house at 708 Newington Ave.Housing Commissioner Daniel P. Henson III also watched.

Less than four years ago, Bill Harmon lived hand to mouth on the streets of Baltimore, struggled with a drug addiction that depleted his savings and had no prospects for a job with a future. These days, a drug-free Harmon has a job he believes is the future, thanks to a green careers training program run by Civic Works, Baltimore's urban service corps. Harmon, 56, works as a field technician in the burgeoning environmental industry, where he tests for contaminated soil on construction sites and helps contain hazardous material during demolitions.

The Open Society Institute of Baltimore, a foundation funded by billionaire philanthropist George Soros, is giving $1.5 million to four city nonprofits for job training for low-income residents. The award will be accompanied by another $1.5 million of state and federal funds. The $3 million in funding will help provide job training and placement services to 141 people with criminal convictions who otherwise would be unable to find work. The four nonprofits receiving funding are the Center for Urban Families, Civic Works, Group Ministries and the Job Opportunities Task Force.

BOWLEYS QUARTERS -- Miami Beach park's swimming area -- closed July 7 because of high bacteria counts in the water -- will remain closed through the Labor Day holiday, the traditional last day for the swimming season.Ian Forrest, Department of Environment bureau chief for the county's Waste Management and Community Service division, said continued testing of the water remains uneven. "Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad," he said.County officials plan to discuss what can be done during the off-season about ducks thought to be the source of the contamination, he said.

There's nothing quite like dining on the front lawn of a grand old house, reveling in a summery evening, and relaxing after an afternoon golf game. That's what Civic Works offered 200 supporters at its second-annual "Spring Swing -- Golf Tournament and Dinner Auction" at Clifton Mansion. As guests supped and socialized, the sounds of songbirds mingled in the background with 1940s swing music, recalling an earlier era. In the crowd: Dana Gans and Randy LeFaivre, event co-chairs; Marc Bunting and Stuart Brooks, event committee members; Dana Stein, Civic Works president and executive director; Tony Hawkins, Civic Works board chair; city Councilwoman Helen Holton, Mimi Roeder Vaughan, Tricia Ellis and Fred Struever, board members; Bev Thomas, Baltimore community activist; Rob Bostick, BGE marketing and energy services manager; Paul Ellis, ReVisions Foundation executive director; Diane Gordy, state administrator; Chuck Goldsborough, Team Lexus league driver; Steve Hazan, Bank of America vice president; Terry McDonnell, general sales manager for Carroll County Foods; Sibyl Kane, AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer; and Tony Pagnotti, WMAR-TV personality.

Nonprofit offers free tips on saving energy You can save money by making your home energy-efficient. And now you can get help with that, too. The nonprofit Civic Works will do the job for free for low- to moderate-income residents in the neighborhoods of Belair-Edison, Harwood, Waverly and Coldstream Homestead Montebello. As part of "Project Lightbulb," the group will replace 15 incandescent light bulbs in your home with compact fluorescent lights that use 25 percent less electricity.

Ann Roberts' East Baltimore rowhouse is older than she is, but not by much. Her narrow brick home on East Preston Street has been around, she said, "for a hundred years-plus." Roberts is 90 years old. She is still able to negotiate the stairs in her four-story home and takes pride in keeping her residence in shape. "This is a tough house," she said as she launched into a story of how some years ago it had withstood being hit by a tractor-trailer. "These boys, 16 and 14, stole the truck, were chased by the police, then lost control and came right in the living room."

Though it's nearly freezing outside, fresh arugula, kale and more greens are flourishing in Hoop Village. That's the name given to Baltimore's newest urban farming venture - a trio of plastic-skinned hoop greenhouses on the historic Lake Clifton schools campus. The structures, finished in October, are already yielding harvests that will provide wholesome snacks to some city elementary students this winter. And students at the three Lake Clifton schools are helping to raise the food they'll be eating.

Though it's nearly freezing outside, fresh arugula, kale and more greens are flourishing in Hoop Village. That's the name given to Baltimore's newest urban farming venture - a trio of plastic-skinned hoop greenhouses on the historic Lake Clifton schools campus. The structures, finished in October, are already yielding harvests that will provide wholesome snacks to some city elementary students this winter. And students at the three Lake Clifton schools are helping to raise the food they'll be eating.

Nonprofit offers free tips on saving energy You can save money by making your home energy-efficient. And now you can get help with that, too. The nonprofit Civic Works will do the job for free for low- to moderate-income residents in the neighborhoods of Belair-Edison, Harwood, Waverly and Coldstream Homestead Montebello. As part of "Project Lightbulb," the group will replace 15 incandescent light bulbs in your home with compact fluorescent lights that use 25 percent less electricity.

Standing with a crowd on the porch of the Clifton Mansion in Northeast Baltimore recently to celebrate the 95th birthday of Samuel Hopkins, a descendant of one of Baltimore's great philanthropists, Johns Hopkins, it was hard not to reflect on what philanthropy and service have meant to Baltimore - and on what they still mean to the future of our city and its residents. "Johns Hopkins made a positive difference in the lives of countless people, but most importantly, he left a profound and lasting legacy to the city he made his home," was the way Sam said it. Sam Hopkins' death Wednesday ended a lifetime of civic involvement.

As temperatures plummet and fuel prices soar, many Maryland residents are dreading the coming winter months. But 300 low- to moderate- income homes in Northeast Baltimore are getting a boost from Project Light Bulb, an energy-efficiency initiative undertaken by the urban service corps Civic Works. The three-month pilot program, which began last week, has pledged to provide energy-conserving devices to residents of the Coldstream-Homestead-Montebello and Belair-Edison neighborhoods who are struggling with their utilities bills.

As temperatures plummet and fuel prices soar, many Maryland residents are dreading the coming winter months. But 300 low- to moderate- income homes in Northeast Baltimore are getting a boost from Project Light Bulb, an energy-efficiency initiative undertaken by the urban service corps Civic Works. The three-month pilot program, which began last week, has pledged to provide energy-conserving devices to residents of the Coldstream-Homestead-Montebello and Belair-Edison neighborhoods who are struggling with their utilities bills.

WASHINGTON -- As 10 young people from Baltimore looked on, President Clinton signed his national service bill into law yesterday, fulfilling one of his most popular campaign pledges with a rare bipartisan victory.Holding pens used by Presidents John F. Kennedy and Franklin D. Roosevelt to create the Peace Corps and the Depression-era Civilian Conservation Corps, Mr. Clinton declared that national service "will help us strengthen the cords that bind us together as a people" and also help Americans remember "that what each of us can become is to some extent determined by whether all of us can become what God meant us to be."

Two political novices and longtime Annapolitans will square off to fill the shoes of Louise Hammond, the downtown alderwoman from Ward One for the past 12 years. Richard E. Israel, 62, is a retired assistant state attorney general who routinely dealt with municipal law issues during his government career. He defeated Alice Johnson in the Democratic primary, winning 279 votes to her 31. Doug Burkhardt, 47, is president and owner of the Monticello Group, a consulting firm for emerging technology and mortgage companies based in Annapolis.

Hilda M. Moore, a homemaker who had been active in civic affairs, died of heart failure Monday at Heritage Harbor Health and Rehabilitation Center in Annapolis. She was 91. Born in York County, Va., she graduated from a business school in Newport News, Va., and took a job in the office of the production manager at Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Co. In 1941, while working there, she met and married John B. Moore Jr. They lived on the West Coast during the war, when Mr. Moore was employed by the Henry J. Kaiser shipyard in Richmond, Calif.