Nehemiah

The address may be Retreat Street, but there was nothing but forward motion yesterday as the first nine buyers took title to new three-bedroom town houses built as part of the massive Baltimore Nehemiah project in West Baltimore.Mary and Paul Malachi and Willa Mae Wilson were the first buyers to complete their settlements yesterday and receive keys to their just-finished homes in the 1500 block of Retreat Street.Their houses are among the first of 300 new or rehabilitated residences that are being built this year in the Penn-North and Sandtown-Winchester areas.

Drive down any number of blocks in the Nehemiah community in West Baltimore's Sandtown-Winchester neighborhood and you will find something noticeably absent from the windows and front porches of the community's well-kept homes: Foreclosure signs. Despite the conventional wisdom, this neighborhood is living proof that it is possible for low-income homeowners to avoid foreclosure. There's a reason why more than 500 residents in Sandtown-Winchester enjoy stable homeownership despite annual incomes of only $14,400 to $44,600.

Even before a model home was ready, potential buyers were flocking to the new Nehemiah town house development in West Baltimore. The attraction: $62,500 houses that come with a package of low-interest mortgage financing for first-time homebuyers with incomes from $11,000 to $35,000."

College Park -- As Maryland junior Dominic Berger's feet touched the ground after the final hurdle last month at the Atlantic Coast Conference track and field championships, the school's most accomplished track athlete and one of the world's fastest hurdlers was waiting for him, eager to present Berger with the gold medal. It was only fitting that former Terp Renaldo Nehemiah was there to congratulate Berger for his league title in the 110-meter hurdles, which he won in 13.54 seconds. Nehemiah, the first man to run the 110-meter hurdles in under 13 seconds, is the only athlete in school history who has run the event faster than Berger, yet those within the program are hesitant to compare the two. "What we've tried to do is create his own identity," coach Andrew Valmon said.

Baltimore housing officials plan to use part of a surplus in federal funds from the Nehemiah housing project in West Baltimore to bid for vacant private homes at the city's May 12 tax sale.The plan was enthusiastically embraced yesterday by the Board of Estimates, which approved the new use of federal Community Development Block Grant money.The recently completed Nehemiah I Housing Project -- consisting of 300 new and rehabilitated houses in the Sandtown-Winchester and Penn-North neighborhoods -- finished with a budget surplus of $900,000, according to David K. Elam, development director for the city's housing department.

Renaldo Nehemiah says, "It's incredible to think of my name and the fact I haven't participated in the Olympic Games."The two skiers from Senegal are more accomplished Olympians. So, for that matter, is the now-extinct Eddie the Eagle.We all know it's easier to sneak into the Winter Games -- the Italian hockey team features a bunch of North Americans whose names end in vowels -- but Nehemiah could have been a three-time Olympic champion by now. Instead, he has yet to compete.Which is why, at the age of 32, he's taking one last shot.

Donnetta LeGrande and her daughter Michelle, 18, are preparing to pack up their Westview apartment and move into a newly refurbished home in Northeast Baltimore's Better Waverly area. But first, they have to help clean the house.LeGrande is the first person in the country to benefit from a new national partnership between Habitat for Humanity and Nehemiah Progressive Housing, two nonprofit groups that provide housing for low-income families.Members of the two organizations joined LeGrande in beginning to gut her future home in the 2900 block of Independence St. yesterday, as Nehemiah's $1 million contribution to the joint program was announced, marking the partnership's national beginning.

THE OLD TESTAMENT tells us of Nehemiah, the prophet who fought widespread skepticism and led the rebuilding of Jerusalem after its destruction. A couple of thousand years later, that story is providing inspiration in Baltimore.The first Nehemiah project, begun in 1987 under the leadership of the Enterprise Foundation, resulted in the construction of 300 new homes -- mostly for low-income homeownership -- in West Baltimore's Sandtown-Winchester and Penn-North neighborhoods. That was followed by 28 homes built in Cherry Hill.

College Park -- As Maryland junior Dominic Berger's feet touched the ground after the final hurdle last month at the Atlantic Coast Conference track and field championships, the school's most accomplished track athlete and one of the world's fastest hurdlers was waiting for him, eager to present Berger with the gold medal. It was only fitting that former Terp Renaldo Nehemiah was there to congratulate Berger for his league title in the 110-meter hurdles, which he won in 13.54 seconds. Nehemiah, the first man to run the 110-meter hurdles in under 13 seconds, is the only athlete in school history who has run the event faster than Berger, yet those within the program are hesitant to compare the two. "What we've tried to do is create his own identity," coach Andrew Valmon said.

Donnetta LeGrande and her daughter Michelle, 18, are preparing to pack up their Westview apartment and move into a newly refurbished home in Northeast Baltimore's Better Waverly area. But first, they have to help clean the house.LeGrande is the first person in the country to benefit from a new national partnership between Habitat for Humanity and Nehemiah Progressive Housing, two nonprofit groups that provide housing for low-income families.Members of the two organizations joined LeGrande in beginning to gut her future home in the 2900 block of Independence St. yesterday, as Nehemiah's $1 million contribution to the joint program was announced, marking the partnership's national beginning.

Son of Nanette Turner and Earnest Johnson departed this life suddenly on Monday, April 3, 2006. Survived by his parents, two daughters, Jasmiah and Nia Maya Johnson and fiance, Lynnette Thompson-Johnson; grandparents Harry and Dorothy Williams, six aunts, nine uncles and a host of other relatives and friends. Family will receive friends at the Oak Street A.M.E. Church, 123 w. 24th St., Saturday, at 10am. Funeral to follow at 10:30am. Professional Services entrusted to the William C. Brown Community Funeral Home, P.A., 1206 W. North Avenue.

The controversial and colorful career of John Chaney has turned an ugly hue, as Temple has suspended its veteran coach for the remainder of the regular season over his use of an enforcer in a heated game against an Atlantic 10 Conference rival. Chaney initially gave himself a one-game suspension for his poor judgment in a loss to Saint Joseph's, but yesterday the Temple administration added two games to that punishment. Chaney can return for the conference tournament, March 9-12 in Cincinnati, but Saint Joe's senior John Bryant will not. Bryant suffered a broken right arm in a seven-point win at Temple on Tuesday, when Chaney inserted Nehemiah Ingram, a 6-foot-8, 250-pound player whom he described as a "goon."

On October 25, 2003 EMMA RAE SCOTT; beloved wife of the late Gorham Scott; devoted mother of Angela R. Cottman, A. Morgan Tabb and R. Douglas Tabb; loving grandmother of Farah T. Johnson, Fatima C. Frazier and Morgan J. Tabb; cherished great grandmother of Paul, Jr., Sumaiyah, Jibri and Nehemiah; cousin of Matilda Pair and James Pair. She was also survived by many loving relatives and friends. Services will be held on Friday, October 31 at 10:30 A.M. at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church, at Lafayette and Wheeler Avenues Interment immediately following at Maryland National Cemetery.

One of the city's most vocal activist groups is taking Mayor Martin O'Malley to task for backing away from a campaign promise to fund and expand the organization's after-school program for more than 1,000 children. Members of Baltimoreans United in Leadership Development (BUILD) say they will appear at O'Malley's public events and demand that he honor his commitment for $2 million in direct, annual funding for their program, Child First Authority. "We will follow him to every public forum where he shows his face to let every citizen of Maryland know that this is a mayor who does not keep his commitments to the children of Baltimore," said Bishop Douglas I. Miles, co-chair of BUILD and pastor of Koinonia Baptist Church.

Three months ago, Roosevelt Grandy paid $390 a month for a three-bedroom, one-bath rowhouse on Carey Street. Now Grandy, 44, owns a renovated three-bedroom, 1 1/2 -bath townhouse on North Calhoun Street, and his mortgage is $60 less than his rent. Grandy, who grew up in West Baltimore, is among scores of residents who are realizing homeownership through programs that provide low-interest loans, require nominal down payments and keep people in the city. He lives in Sandtown-Winchester Square, a $30 million redevelopment project that when complete will include 322 rehabilitated townhouses in one of Baltimore's most depressed areas.

The national Nehemiah Homebuyers Fair will be held at the Baltimore Convention Center Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The fair will introduce potential homebuyers to the Nehemiah Program, which provides qualified borrowers with up to 3 percent of the purchase price of a home, up to $5,400, to cover upfront costs. The program, administered by a Sacramento, Calif.-based nonprofit, Nehemiah Progressive Housing Development Corp., matches buyers with sellers who may be having difficulty selling their home.

At a hearing in City Hall recently, a woman who had sat quietly for several minutes approached Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke."I've come to congratulate you," said the woman, who lives in the Penn North community of West Baltimore. "Nehemiah has been great for our neighborhood."Nehemiah was the Hebrew leader who organized the rebuilding of Jerusalem, and thus the name is an appropriate one for a housing project that has sprung up in West Baltimore's Penn-North neighborhood, an area plagued by crumbling houses, crumbling families and, sometimes, crumbling drug deals.

When the Rev. Robert M. Kearns began asking religious leaders for money to build 300 homes in a poor West Baltimore neighborhood, his pitch emphasized the likely return on their investment.Donating dollars to the Nehemiah project could be good for business, he said. It could mean better employer-employee relations, perhaps new parishioners, certainly a stronger, more viable city.One by one, the groups signed on -- from synagogues in Northwest Baltimore to religious orders in Frederick and Philadelphia, from black city churches to the Catholic and Episcopal dioceses.

Donnetta LeGrande and her daughter Michelle, 18, are preparing to pack up their Westview apartment and move into a newly refurbished home in Northeast Baltimore's Better Waverly area. But first, they have to help clean the house.LeGrande is the first person in the country to benefit from a new national partnership between Habitat for Humanity and Nehemiah Progressive Housing, two nonprofit groups that provide housing for low-income families.Members of the two organizations joined LeGrande in beginning to gut her future home in the 2900 block of Independence St. yesterday, as Nehemiah's $1 million contribution to the joint program was announced, marking the partnership's national beginning.

Donnetta LeGrande and her daughter Michelle, 18, are preparing to pack up their Westview apartment and move into a newly refurbished home in Northeast Baltimore's Better Waverly area. But first, they have to help clean the house.LeGrande is the first person in the country to benefit from a new national partnership between Habitat for Humanity and Nehemiah Progressive Housing, two nonprofit groups that provide housing for low-income families.Members of the two organizations joined LeGrande in beginning to gut her future home in the 2900 block of Independence St. yesterday, as Nehemiah's $1 million contribution to the joint program was announced, marking the partnership's national beginning.