Own Our Hood Program
The Own Our Hood program invites residents from the surrounding zip codes of VOLARs' buildings (at 1025 and 1031 E. Monument street) the opportunity to co-own the buildings through investment of $10 - $100 each month!
This happens through the Community Investment Trust Fund that will return on local residents' investments annually.1
Community Investment Trust Fund
Through development of a Community Investment Trust Fund, local residents will be able to become co-owners of land and determine local redevelopment. Our vision for organized cooperative community rebuilding will result in the redistribution of wealth, land, property, public funds, and power to residents of public housing, and other low-income and working class Black communities across Baltimore.
Through a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, VOLAR has developed a 12-hr Popular Political Financial Education training for local residents to learn about the history of disinvestment and displacement through exploitative redevelopment methods co-created by the government and the wealthy institutions and individuals in Baltimore and beyond. Following this training, residents will be eligible to become small-dollar investors and shareholders in VOLAR's buildings.
VOLAR's OOH program has provided financial popular education training for more than 35 community residents since implementation of the OOH curriculum.
1. The investment model is based on the Mercy Corps model in Portland, OR.
Enjoying OOH Training Program
VOLAR’s strategy will yield real life solutions, structural and systems change in various ways. First, the investors will not be the traditional property and money class but low-wage workers and tenants. Secondly, the landed gentry will not be the owners and developers of the land and housing but the VOLAR members and investors will be the owners and VOLAR the developer. Thirdly, the systems change work will be revealed in the gender, class, and ethnicity of the leaders and decision-makers.
This is what EQUITABLE Redevelopment looks like!
Please support us by donating to our effort!
