Congratulations to Alyssa Brown and Marian Glebes, our newly appointed President and Treasurer. The current WCA board met and voted to appoint and approve them to fill the open positions in accordance with paragraph 5.d. of the WCA Bylaws. Both Alyssa and Marian have been active WCA members and we are looking forward to their leadership. Tracey Brown will continue to serve as Secretary. Christopher Whipps will continue as the Public Safety Director. We will be sharing additional information about opportunities to get more involved with the WCA by joining a committee in the near future.
Many thanks to Sheri Higgins, our outgoing President, who tirelessly worked for the community. Her many accomplishments include creating the Woodberry Hangout, creating and maintaining both the sign garden and the plantings along 41st St, leading Woodberry to become a Local Historic District, and so much more. Her contributions are too numerous for this post.
Alyssa Brown has been a Baltimore City resident for more than ten years and a homeowner in Woodberry since 2016. According to Alyssa, “Many things drew me to Woodberry when I made the decision to buy a house, including its history, architecture, and its proximity to the light rail. The ease of access to the city and all its resources combined with the large green spaces and ability to have a small garden of my own made it the perfect fit.
I recognize that Woodberry is changing and want to make sure the community has a seat at the table as development impacting the neighborhood continues. I believe building on and broadening the existing processes to elicit feedback from the community and ensure transparency is critical as we move forward. I played an active role in the most recent effort to secure a Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation (CHAP) designation since the demolition of the stone houses in May 2019. I bring a combination of skills which I think would serve the community well, including a background in grassroots organizing and coalition building. It would be an honor to continue to serve the community going forward.”
Marian Glebes has been a resident of the Jones Falls River Valley for 20 years, and a homeowner on Brick Hill since 2013. According to Marian, “For these past two decades, I have worked with and across diverse and inclusive communities, geographies, and stakeholders due to my dedication and commitment to engagement, equitable development, and the power of people and art to change the City. I am compelled to service in Woodberry and Baltimore by all of the complexities in the questions ‘How we make a place, and how a place makes us.’
Through my work in the private sector in community economic development, in the non-profit sector working alongside City agencies to lower barriers for artists and makers in policy and practice, in academia as a teacher in higher-ed, in my art practice that ranges from working in museums to working in the public realm, in already serving the WCA by playing an active role in the recent CHAP designation, in grassroots activism and organizing with and alongside neighborhood associations across Baltimore, I have a history of showing up and serving the people and places around me.”