Events and Projects
BHCA sponsors a number events and projects around Bolton Hill that are consistent with the community association’s mission. BHCA can support projects around Bolton Hill through its regular budgeting process or as a fiscal sponsor. A fiscal sponsor is often needed to apply for grants for projects affecting public spaces. With events, BHCA can be a repository for funds raised for or during an event.
An event or project with BHCA as a fiscal sponsor must be consistent with the community association’s mission and have at least two representatives, who raise the funds that BHCA holds and reimburses for event or project expenses. If you’d like to hold an event open to the public or a project you’d like to undertake to improve a public space around Bolton Hill, fill out the fiscal sponsorship agreement form and send it to the BHCA treasurer. All potential events or projects are subject to approval by the BHCA executive committee. Because it’s always good to spread awareness of improvement projects happening around the neighborhood, you’ll probably be asked to share your project at a BHCA monthly meeting or through the Bolton Hill Bulletin.
Making Check Requests
BHCA will issue checks to vendors and reimburse neighbors for approved expenses or reimburse representatives for an event or project’s expenses. Before filling out this check request form, be sure you have the following:
- To issue a check from a BHCA project account, requires approval from two project representatives. Approval can be emailed to treasurer@boltonhillmd.org.
- Payments to vendors require an invoice, and reimbursement checks require a copy of all receipts. Invoices and receipts can be uploaded through the check request form.
- Payments to independent contractors require BHCA to collect an IRS W9 form before issuing the check. You can upload the completed W9 form through the check request form or the contractor can email it to treasurer@boltonhillmd.org.
Checks are generally issued within a few days after BHCA receives the supporting documents. Payments exceeding $500 require a second signature and so may take a bit longer to issue.
Current Projects
Unity@Park Avenue. Unity@Park Avenue is a three-part project to bring new life to the south side of the Park and North intersection, which borders Bolton Hill and Reservoir Hill and serves as a gateway to West Baltimore: 1) painting murals on the row house walls on either side of Park Avenue; 2) transforming an empty lot at the base of one wall from a concrete eyesore to an attractive place to passersby and bus riders waiting for the bus; and 3) reimagining the generic design of the bus shelter between the lot and the street.
Baltimore-based mural artist, Ernest Shaw, painted the murals in the summer of 2021 with project management by Mural Masters. More than $32,000 was raised over 15 months through a combination of grants from the Abell Foundation, Baltimore Community Foundation, Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts, PNC Bank Foundation, an employer match from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, private donations, and a contribution from BHCA. Photos by Zhee Chatmon.
After the local landscape design firm, EnviroCollab, created a concept design for the lot after community input sessions, the plan to renovate the lot is undergoing an engineered design funded through a grant from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. The engineered design will be performed by another local firm, CityScape, in collaboration with EnviroCollab and will provide a blueprint for the project to be implemented, pending implementation funding. The Midtown Community Fund is the fiscal sponsor for the lot renovation.
Donations for the project can be made on the donations page of the BHCA website.
Green Streets. A concept design to revive and reconnect the green spaces known as Mosher Street Plaza in Bolton Hill and Mounds Park in Marble Hill by way of Eutaw Median Park was created by landscape architecture firm Hord Coplan Macht. With funding from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, an engineered design is underway for Mounds Park, enabling it to be ready for implementation, provided it has the necessary funding.
Completed Projects
Lanvale Triangle Park Joe Costa Memorial. Residents raised funds to create a memorial in Lanvale Triangle Park for longtime and beloved Bolton Hill resident Joe Costa, who died from COVID-19 serving patients as a critical care physician. The decorative fence was created to surround the center garden, which is now called Lanvale Memorial Garden in honor of Joe.
Lanvale Tree Planting Project. Neighbors along the 100 block of Lanvale Street partnered with MICA and the Midtown Community Benefits District to raise money to expand and create more tree wells for more trees in the southwest corner of Bolton Hill.
Contee-Parago Park Renovation. In celebration of its fiftieth anniversary, Contee-Parago Park underwent a major transformation. Removal of a large brick wall and sections of pavement opened the space to a new rain garden and native plantings, and new signage highlights the park’s history and relationship to urban renewal. Contee-Parago Park is likely the first park in Baltimore to be named after two African-American Baltimore citizens, William Gailes Contee and Edward Wilson Parago, Sr., who lived in Bolton Hill starting in the early twentieth century. The renovation was funded through grant support from the Baltimore National Heritage Area, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, the Neighborhood Design Center, Baltimore Heritage, and the Bolton Hill Garden Club, and contributions from the Association of Professional Landscape Designers and many individuals.
Linden Gazebo Restoration. Residents on the 1700 block of Linden Avenue worked with Bolton Hill’s councilman and City officials to obtain funding to restore the iconic gazebo in the block’s center plaza. The gazebo’s metal was repaired and repainted in colors appropriate to the time it was created.
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