Black Women Build-Baltimore is tackling the city’s housing crisis with a targeted solution: empowering Black women to buy, renovate, and live in once-abandoned homes. The nonprofit has already helped nearly 20 women become homeowners in West Baltimore and is scaling up with dozens more properties and a growing community effort behind it, according to an exclusive report by The 19 News.
After graduating college and moving into her first East Baltimore apartment in 2021, Saj Dillard quickly realized that her rent payments weren’t helping her build anything lasting. She wanted more than temporary shelter—she wanted ownership and a chance to grow wealth.
To measure her progress, she created a unique milestone: once her beloved monstera plant, Big Birtha, became too big to haul up the apartment stairs, it would be time to buy a house…