Thank you to everyone who volunteered for "Brains on Fire", sponsored our various activities, and purchased raffle tickets.  Through your generosity we were able to not only raise over $12,000 but, more importantly, help four communities develop visions for improving their schools, commercial areas, and outreach centers.

As promised, here are the virtual and in-person activities held on December 4:

NDC Awards
We are pleased to announce the recipients of our 2010 NDC Awards:

Volunteers of the Year
Claudia Barragan, Planning Consultant
William Cawood, William Hill Cawood Architect
Mauricio Del Pozo, RTKL

Mauricio and Claudia are recognized for the work that they did on the Westport Revitalization Plan, volunteering over 500 hours between them!

William is recognized for his work on two feasability studies, one for a community center in Seat Pleasant and the other a non-profit incubator in Hyattsville, that helped the clients understand how to phase their projects.

Projects of the Year
Cafritz Facade Improvement Project: The project involved seven volunteers and nine businesses in three different commercial areas, and helped raise $300,000 for facade and exterior improvements.

Patterson Park Streetscape: A diverse team of volunteers created a comprehensive plan for greening several streets in the Patterson Park Neighborhood, which helped them receive funding from the Chesapeake Bay Trust for tree planting.

Volunteer Hall of Fame
George Holback, Cho Benn Holback + Associates

George is recognized for over ten years of supporting NDC, whether as a project volunteer, Board member and President, and financially.  His leadership has helped NDC expand its mission and his creativity and commitment has helped communities throughout the area.

Special Recognition Award
Irene (Ren) Poulsen

For over 13 years Ren contributed her knowledge, commitment, and compassion to NDC as well as to Baltimore.  During this time she oversaw hundreds of projects ranging from the adaptive reuse of buildings to community open spaces to neighborhood master plans.  She was instrumental in leading crime prevention through environmental design planning in southwest Baltimore, in using art to reclaim over a dozen parks and community spaces throughout the city, and in countless planning projects that enabled people to make positive changes in their neighborhoods, including the Patterson Park Streetscape and the Westport Revitalization Plan.

We will be highlighting our Volunteers and Projects of the Year in subsequent months both on our web site and in our monthly e-newsletter.

Brains on Fire
Click HERE to see images from our four community design charrettes.

Raffle winners
Thank you to everyone who bought raffle tickets - we raised $780.  The winners are:

50/50 Raffle: Tom McGilloway

Custom Screen Painting: Nicole Lacoste Folks

Gift Certificate to Woodberry Kitchen: Roma Campanile



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