Community Partner: Waverly Main Street Intern: Caleb Warren Site Supervisor: Emilie C. Drasher
What is the Waverly Main Street? Waverly Main Street is the local, historic shopping district located in the center of Waverly Village. Visit the Waverly Historic Marker located on the green median along 33rd St. west of Greenmount.
This summer proved to be a fascinating mix of establishing business relationships, planning and staffing events and attending key community meetings throughout the city. With a mission of revitalizing the neighborhood surrounding a part of the Greenmount corridor, Waverly Main Street immersed me into a world of small businesses run by local people. In the first few weeks, I went from business to business asking to speak with managers and informing them about community resources and the possibility of hiring a youth worker. I spoke with barbers, cobblers, technology specialists, hardware experts, auto mechanics, learning first‐hand what business needed in the wake of the uprising and brainstorming ways to entice more customers. I learned that behind every small business is a face that worries about whether they are doing enough advertising or how their facade looks. WMS was very busy one week and painstakingly slow the next. A major frustration of mine was that small, one full‐time employee non‐profits like WMS have to spend a huge amount of time waiting to hear back about a meeting or funding or a form to be filled out. While I learned more than I could have imagined, especially going into this urban business work as a biology and philosophy major, I feel that the program and this placement would benefit from a 20hr / wk student work schedule at WMS. A highlight of the summer was planning and then staffing the organization ' s first Baseball and Brews benefit event at the local Peabody Heights Brewery. Over 100 people showed up for a Saturday afternoon of baseball, bottomless beer, a silent auction and a raffle. While staffing the event was a lot of fun, it also put into perspective how much organizational work and planning is needed for just a four hour event. From working with caterers, the brewery, sponsors and silent auction donors, we found that while it was highly stressful, it was highly rewarding. After receiving overwhelmingly positive feedback, we planned another event‐‐this time Ravens themed‐‐for the fall. I gained a lot of interpersonal and organizational skills this summer as well as really realizing the truth of the adage " If not you, then who? If not now, then when?” ‐Caleb
Tasks:
● Sought out, secured work opportunities Baltimore high scho
● Assisted in grant‐wr for over $ 300,000 in acquisitions, demol improvements, stre projects.
● Helped organize an promotional comm community movie n