Think about the first three words that come to mind when you think about Belair-Edison’s Main Street. You know, the Belair Road corridor; our business district. For many neighbors I’ve spoken with, the descriptive words (or phrases) range from “crime ridden”, “unsafe”, “dirty” to “melting pot”, “hair and food haven”, “community hub”. As you can see, neighbors’ feelings span the love-hate continuum.

I choose to think of the strip as a community hub that’s ripe for a new birth. Admittedly, I haven’t always had as much hope for our Main Street during my 11+ years in the neighborhood. There was a time when I absolutely refused to even drive down Belair Road once the sun went down and very selective times when the sun was up. Further, there were certain stores I simply wouldn’t support because of the ‘drama’ I had to endure just to get into the establishment.  And let’s not discuss the trash. I’ve been solicited with drugs, warned about being on the strip while waiting for food, and witnessed drugs being stashed in the trash cans (of all which was reported to authorities).

What I’ve come to realize now is that OUR Main Street is just that. It’s ours. Everything that it is, and everything that it is not.  It belongs to the Belair-Edison community. We set the tone of what businesses we’ll support, how we’d like the businesses to support the community, etc. The people who frequent, and sometimes, inhabit the corridor are a vital part of our community. How can we help them? How can we solicit help from them?

What would happen if “community leaders” just stood on all four corners of Belair/Erdman? What would happen if “community leaders” walked to Belair Road to support the businesses along the strip before getting into cars to drive to support businesses in other communities?

Please share your thoughts about our Main Street. Do you shop there? Why or why not? Can you recommend how residents can invest in the Main Street? Most importantly, would you support a community-owned and managed store on Belair Road?

Resident participation and leadership are keys to creating strong and stable communities. When residents are empowered to solve problems, make decisions and take leadership, neighbors create a powerful tool for developing community assets. All residents have a stake in their communities’ futures. Successful communities will be those whose residents have the tools to identify the community’s needs, to shape the programs to meet those needs, and to influence positive outcomes upon meeting the outlined needs. Those residents will be the leaders who watch over their communities for years to come, and help identify and train the next generation of leaders.

The Belair-Edison Healthy Community Coalition is comprised of everyday neighbors who tirelessly volunteer a countless number of hours to the place they call home.

Our volunteer efforts to date have:

• Developed, nurtured and managed a network of civic, educational, faith-based, local and federal partnerships;
• Conducted a needs-assessment of the community;
• Created two (2) computer labs in the community;
• Operated after school and summer camp programs;
• Brought over $30,000 to human service programs in Belair-Edison.

Please take a moment to review the Volunteer Page on the Coalition’s website. Join the movement!

As we can see, volunteers bear such a major impact in the community when we all come together.

Question for thought: Why don’t more people in the Belair-Edison and 4×4 communities volunteer?