The Voices of the Middle Branch interview series aims to celebrate the communities around the Middle Branch through visual storytelling.
Michael, Executive Director of the Cherry Hill Development Corporation
“I grew up in the Cherry Hill community and lived in public housing until I was 12 years old. Then we moved out to West Baltimore. I came back to the Cherry Hill Community and started working as an attorney at what was known then as a community law office—that is addressing those community-wide types of issues that are affecting folk in poverty. [Cherry Hill] is a community that has been treated so unfairly and deserves so much more. The opportunity to change is one that I enjoy immensely. Presently [Cherry Hill] is one of the lowest income communities in the city of Baltimore.
How people make a way out of no way and our resilience and relationship to what’s given to us is just outstanding. What the community has given to me is a sense of resiliency, of love for one another, and it keeps me humble. I remember this community as a place of love and peace. I never recognized the nature of poverty in which we existed.
One of my fondest memories is when my father took me fishing and crabbing out of the Middle Branch. One of the things in reimagining the Middle Branch is that those recreational opportunities are brought back to us. The park areas can be used for opportunities for social gatherings, for putting on festivals to enjoy nature.
Reimagine Middle Branch can bring communities together to remove barriers, whether they are physical or mental, from the people that reside within these communities—and let us start to look at and appreciate one another for who we are. As one of the last waterfront areas, this could be a tremendous economic benefit to the community.”
“How people make a way out of no way and our resilience and relationship to what’s given to us is just outstanding. What the community has given to me is a sense of resiliency, of love for one another, and it keeps me humble.”