vacant and beautiful! adopt a vacant house AND MAKE IT BEAUTIFUL
At Our Victorious City, we believe that every child has a right to live in a safe, clean, beautiful and nourishing environment. Professor Marc A. Zimmerman of the University of Michigan states that research from cities across the United States shows how small changes to urban environments — like planting flowers or adding benches — reduce violence.
The group started holding frequent neighborhood cleanup days to fix up vacant lots and abandoned buildings, symbolically “owning” them by adding lighting, sidewalk repair, benches, and planting flowers. The owners were usually happy to allow neighbors to fix up their private property for free. Sometimes, they even pitched in. Those changes, we observed, inspired other homeowners and businesses on this flat, three-lane road to spruce up their properties, too – what one local resident called the “spreading effect of pride.
BEFORE PICTURE: 3611 BELAIR ROAD BALTIMORE 21213
MOTHER VICTORY SWIFT
SAREENA JONES HELPS WITH MULCHING
NEWSPAPER AS WEED BLOCKER
Two days after the garden was planted people stopped throwing trash and other debris in the area where the flowers now are. Amazing!
”I think that people really just needed to see that, ‘Hey, somebody does care about this other than just us,‘” said a coalition member.
According to Reed Jordan, a Research Associate in the Policy Advisory Group at The Urban Institute; states that for children, the long-term mental health effects of poverty are extremely alarming. In addition to occupying cognitive resources needed for education (arguably the clearest path out of poverty), poverty is toxic to children. Persistent stress and exposure to trauma trigger harmful stress hormones that permanently affect children’s brain development and even their genes. The damage to childhood development is so severe that medical professionals now describe the early effects of poverty as a childhood disease. Our Victorious City feels that reversing this one aspect of our beautiful children's lives will create a domino effect and allow the entire city and county to take part in this incredible healing process. We realize that this act alone will not solve the drastic issues we suffer as a city, but we do think that it will cause a positive and collective ripple effect.
fall planting in the nieghborhood
PLANTING RED TULIPS, YELLOW DAFFODILS &COLORFUL PANSIES
FOR A LONG WINTER'S SLEEP & A VICTORIOUS SPRING!
*Adopt a vacant property
Baltimore City has over 30,000 vacant properties throughout the city, below is the link to Vacant Buildings/openBaltimore city/ City Baltimore's open database (https://data.baltimorecity.gov/ Housing-Development/Vacant-Buildings/qqcv-ihn5)
​
* Take before and after pictures
Take before and after pictures and email them to ourvictoriouscity@gmail.com and we will post them on all of our social media forms. We will also contact the property owners for their feedback on the property's new face-lift. Plus, we are excited to see your creative side!
​
* Best types of flowers to get
The best type of flowers to get are Perennials. Perennials comes back every year so you only need to plant once for a year after year floral showcase. Check if your adopted property is on the sunny or shady side of the street. There are Perennials for part shade, full shade, or
sunny places. So be sure to pick the right type of Perennials for your project. You can ask your local garden canter for the best selections
and color schemes.
​
* Pot Luck
You can go crazy with plant pots, paint them, write words of inspirations on them, decorate them in many different designs and patterns. You can make plant boxes form 2x4s or create plant beds. YouTube has millions of ideas for you to choose from. Use many different sizes of pots for an arranged look, it can also add more color to your project.
​
* A family affair
Turn this incredible gesture of kindness into a family affair. Invite family members and friends to get involved as an afternoon or weekend project. you can take pictures and make a scrapbook showing all the details of this wonderful summer gift of healing.
​
*Planting tips
Use newspaper as a heavy covering around plants before you place your mulch down. This will keep out weeds, keeps the soil moist after watering, keeps roots protected in winter and creates a great compose as it breaks down into the soil in about a year or two. YouTube has great videos on this method of weeding. Also watch how Aspirin, Baking Soda, and Hydrogen Peroxide help plants to grow big,
healthy and beautiful.
​
​
​
​