I donated art supplies (mostly pencils and art paper) to Jubilee Arts on Pennsylvania Avenue. I emailed ahead and some staff met me there. They were very cool and gracious. Jubilee is community centered and has art focused classes for kids and adults.

In Philly a cheesesteak with lettuce tomato and mayo on it by request was referred to quite specifically as a "cheeseteak hoagie" by some family members who live there.

Agreed! Many people don't realize that identifying as black is NOT an admissions criteria. I've seen all kinds of students at HBCUs, including international students. The students who actually attend don't care. Very few probably even bothered to vote for Miss Coppin State.

I can't imagine being a proud parent, sending my kid off to school, and then have them being preyed on and sexually assaulted and receive tired excuses from the administration that was supposed to support them. Sickening. Universities have dedicated offices and officers to handle violations of Title IX. Not sure why things were handled so poorly here.

Sorry to hear this OP. As someone who dealt with a trash ass neighbor with sometimes out of control kids in for years, I know how frustrating it is. Sadly, my neighbor was a homeowner and I got fined twice for garbage they sat in front of my house! Went to court to fight and it was a not a good experience. My experiences with 311 however were always pretty decent, but this was Pre-COVID.

Maybe get the media involved to put some pressure on HCD? It's poor oversight and management by agencies like this that give affordable housing a bad name and why nobody wants it in their neighborhoods. Families may need real wrap around services to deal with a multitude of issues, not just a roof to improve the quality of their lives and maintain quality of life for the neighborhoods they are placed in.

Not a clothing recommendation, but put some lotion on. The combination of the cold air, sweat, and dry skin can make you itch like crazy in winter if you are eczema prone or have exercise induced itching.

There was (is?) a little field behind some houses on Shroeder street where they would let the horses graze sometimes. I always enjoyed seeing the horses and connecting with the arabbers. It's one of those things that really does put the "charm" in charm city.

A less safe but still effective is the late night car cry. The 195 loop around UMBC is very quiet late at night.

Her "Mercyfuck" is a sure enough classic.

I've been to that shopping center exactly twice...and that was one time too many.

I lived in SouthWest Baltimore for over a decade and most I experienced with property crime (mainly car break in but one time a yard break in and a ladder stolen), and a bad neighbor who acted like proper trash disposal was some unsolvable discrete math equation. However, it does get dicey street by street here, and most of Edmonson village is NOT somewhere to bike and chill. But let's not malign all of West Baltimore. I got into an accident in that part of town once. My car completely flipped over and a group of "grimey" dudes who I would probably have been scared to roll my car window down to speak at that time had to pull me from my car before it caught on fire. They waited with me and gave me a compress for my bleeding head until the ambulance came. One guy was maybe just 14 and he said, "when that car hit you, I was shook!" I still smile about that. That incident really took the wind out of my baltimore hate sails when it came to the people of Baltimore. It's a lot of good people here despite the ones involved in shenanigans...and you can't always tell by what people look like. Really sorry OP ran into the rough crowd.