Dillard was the fifth Black woman to buy a home through Black Women Build’s program. Now, 17 women have moved into the Upton, Druid Heights and Poppleton neighborhoods, occupying some of the 21 homes founder Shelley Halstead has renovated since 2019.
“It’s hard to acquire houses if you don’t have the funding and the capital to back it up in the intermediate,” Dillard said. “I think that Black Women Build is bridging that gap between what city officials feel is necessary or needed for the Black community versus what is actually needed for this community.”
In 2015, Halstead was a recent West Baltimore transplant with a background in carpentry and a fresh law degree in hand. While exploring Upton, her new neighborhood, she saw the legacy of redlining and the impact of failed revitalization projects in the 1960s and 1970s that resulted in dilapidated homes, with trees growing out of them and collapsed walls and roofs. Many were slated to be torn down by the city.
But at least some of the units were salvageable, and she saw an opportunity. Halstead decided to put her skills to work. In 2017, she founded Black Women Build, a nonprofit that purchases the homes in Baltimore that are in need of serious work, renovates them and then sells the units at or below the market rate. She began renovating the homes and inviting Black women into the fold to diversify and uplift neighborhoods. In addition to the vacant homes, Halstead saw a lot of opportunity in the area to bring in more businesses and community spaces for her neighbors.
Through the organization, Halstead hoped to help Black women own property, which is often the path to wealth in this country.