CHAI: Making A Stand in Upper Park Heights Part 4

Article by Simone Ellin. Originally published in Generations 2009-2010: 50th Anniversary Double Issue: The Search for Social Justice.

Part IV: A Unique Neighborhood

Missed parts 1 – 3? Start here.

Collaboration, productive partnerships, successful fundraising, and the commitment of The Associated have all undoubtedly contributed to CHAI’s success in maintaining a Jewish presence in Upper Park Heights. Yet certain characteristics unique to the neighborhood serve to solidify this diverse community. As Gelula and Rabbi Oberstein point out, a similar neighborhood stabilization program failed to sustain a diverse community in Randallstown, an historically Jewish enclave in Baltimore County which attracted many African Americans starting in the 1960s. “The entire Randallstown Jewish community ended in forty years between 1960 and 2000. It was just gone,” Oberstein asserts. “You see, when people develop the perception that a neighborhood is changing, they assume that the public schools are no longer good, and they run away.” The Orthodox don’t use the public schools, “so the quality of neighborhood public schools doesn’t matter to them.”

Yet, the quality of neighborhood schools matters to CHAI. In fact, in the past two years, CHAI and Cross Country Elementary and Middle School were awarded a School Community Partnership Grant to carry out a school-wide Technology Implementation Program. This is in addition to the money that was raised (through the slots legislation) for Northwestern High School. “Good schools strengthen communities and we all have a stake in quality education,” says Gelula. “Our neighborhood public schools are important community members and they need to be part of our overall plan. And just because there aren’t Jewish kids in those schools today, doesn’t mean that as they improve, there won’t be in the future.”

Whether Jewish children will someday populate the neighborhood schools alongside their African American neighbors remains to be seen. For the time being, the two communities live side by side with limited contact. “We are fortunate to have fine neighborhood associations, and African Americans and Jews work together,” says Rabbi Oberstein. But although Orthodox Jews and blacks share their neighborhood without overt conflict and cooperate in improvement efforts, no one claims that the two communities are closely knit. Gelula admits that the Orthodox live in Upper Park Heights in spite of, and not because of, its diverse population.

Meanwhile, says Sandy Johnson, “I don’t think the average African American who lives here, really ‘gets’ the Orthodox community. We are two communities living side by side, but I don’t think African Americans really understand the ways of Orthodox Jews.” However, close relationships between neighbors of these diverse backgrounds are not unheard of, Johnson adds. “I believe there have been relationships between neighbors. They help one another, but there is still a distance–though not an unfriendly distance. We’re partners who do very well with one another for the most part.”

For Johnson, integrating a growing Hispanic population presents a greater challenge to the neighborhood than black/Jewish relations. “Landlords were renting two-room apartments and five men would be living there. There is tremendous overcrowding.” This has led to overflowing trash bags in the alleys and other issues. “So CHAI applied for a grant, and we got a Spanish-speaking lady to help us organize the homeowners on Surrey Drive,” where many Hispanics live. Johnson adds that although the grant helped temporarily, problems have continued. “I feel like we spend 80 percent of our time dealing with 20 percent of the neighborhood.”

Gelula notes that 20 percent of the children at Fallstaff Elementary/Middle School “are new immigrant children, most of whom are Hispanic.” The area’s increased diversity can be seen in local businesses as well. “If you walk into stores in the neighborhood, you will find that many of the people working there are Latino. There’s a kosher meat store called Shlomo’s. It’s owned by an Iranian Jew. He has his landsmen there, and they all speak Farsi, and then there are these Hispanic guys who also work there and they speak Spanish. So the Iranian guys are learning to speak Spanish, while the Hispanic guys are learning to speak Farsi so they can all work together.”

The community’s response to the changes on Surrey were two-fold. City housing inspectors were brought in to observe illegal occupancy situations, and once misuses could be confirmed, owners were served with fines. CHAI also secured a grant from the Baltimore Neighborhood Collaborative that provided funds to hire a bilingual community worker to work with the neighborhood’s growing Latino population, providing resources and educating the new arrivals about their new country. “She was terrific,” says Gelula. “But the grant ran out and she moved out of the state. Unfortunately, there was no money to continue to fund the position,” he laments.

Gelula notes that CHAI has helped Latino families purchase homes in the neighborhood. The Baltimore Jewish Council has also sponsored dialogues between the Jewish and Hispanic communities. While he acknowledges there have been problems, Gelula does not believe that Jews take issue with the Hispanic presence in Park Heights. “It’s a classic American melting pot story that plays out everywhere in good and bad ways,” he remarks. “Are there groups of Latino guys sitting outside those houses drinking beer and playing loud music – yes – some.” But “for the most part, these are hard working people trying to get an economic foothold so they can create a better life for their kids.”

Meanwhile, the Orthodox community continues to thrive alongside its black and Hispanic neighbors. “I don’t want to give the impression that we’re all walking down the streets of Park Heights singing Kumbaya,” says Gelula. “But we get along.” In fact, the popularity of new housing developments such as Bancroft Village, a Park Heights townhouse community built specifically with the needs of large Orthodox families in mind, suggests that the Jewish community is actually growing. Bucking past trends in Jewish migration—and with the support and stabilization efforts of CHAI—a significant number of Baltimore’s Orthodox Jewish families will likely make their homes in Upper Park Heights for many years to come.

~The End~