PublisherCouncilman Nick J. Mosby

Editor-in-ChiefCandance L. Greene

PhotographyEli Lopatin

Copy EditorHarbinger Communications

Art DirectionPeculiar GFX Inc.

SEVEN is a Baltimore City 7th District quarterly publication. To receive a copy

of SEVEN, request writers guidelines, or to send letters to the Editor,

Send emails to Candance.Greene@baltimorecity.gov

Or send mail to: SEVEN

Office of Councilman Nick J. Mosby

Baltimore City Council, District 7100 N. Holliday Steet, Room 404

Baltimore, MD 21202

© 2012 All rights reserved. All articles, except those identified as

having their own authors, are propertyof SEVEN and cannot be reproduced

without written permission.

Twitter: @councilmanmosby

Facebook:Councilman Nick J. Mosby

SEVEN: www.issuu.com/SEVENthmag

Welcome SEVENth District Family,

I am elated to represent such a powerful , strong, historic and diverse district such as the 7th District. From Druid Hill Park and Hampden, to Pennsylvania and North Avenue and Reservoir Hill, our diversity not only captures all of the greatness of our great City, but also highlights all of our opportunities for improvements.

My first 100 Days as your Councilman have been an exciting opportunity to serve the needs of the 7th District. Since December 2011, we have worked diligently to provide a very competent, robust, and responsive council office that addresses the challenging concerns of our District. We have been on a mission to make the 7th District a safer place for all of our citizens. In March, the Greater Mondawmin and Greater Rosemont neighborhoods were awarded a Safe Streets grant, an outreach program designed to combat shootings and homicides. That same month, I introduced a Liquor Ordinance that will prohibit liquor store owners from selling food, goods, merchandise and wears to children 18 and under. I am also working diligently to bring City Year, a Boston-based program created to address the high school dropout crisis, to Baltimore.

Another great 7th District initiative we have created for you is SEVEN. SEVEN is a quarterly magazine that our office has produced to spotlight both the productivity and positive movement in the District. Each issue will contain information about the people, organizations, neighborhood associations, schools, places of worship, and youth who are working hard improve the 7th District. We’d love for you to tune in every quarter for SEVEN, read it, and share it with others.

I am so excited to continue to work hard for you, and to help make the 7th District all it has the potential to become.

Councilman Nick J. Mosby, 7th District2

FEATURESSpotlighting the Best of District 7

08 Atomic Books

09 Dr. Ann Emery

10 ARTblocks

11 Youth Spotlight: Shalik Fulton

IN EVERY ISSUE02 Councilman’s Corner

Cover Story

05 The First 100: The Beginning

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2,400 hours is just a fragment of time Councilman Nick J. Mosby has spent working for the people of the 7th District. Those hours do not reflect the moment he pointed to City Hall, and told his friends that, one day, his office would be in that building, nor the countless hours he spent with his mother, Eunice Orange, discussing what he would do to improve Baltimore, if he had the chance. Those hours do not reflect the love he has for Baltimore, enough love to come back home after college to finally pursue the City Council seat.

On December 8, 2011, Nick J. Mosby signed his name in the book of Baltimore history, becoming the Honorable Nick J. Mosby, public servant to the 7th District of Baltimore City. During his first 100 Days, he worked to build relationships with families, business owners, community organizations, and schools within the District. He has paired concern with action to make Baltimore City a safer place for our youth, and is working to implement changes that will enable them to have more viable options for success.

In this inaugural issue of SEVEN, we look back over Councilman Mosby’s first 100 days in office, celebrate his achievements and look forward to what’s to come.

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In 2012, Councilman Mosby plans to implement important legislation that will continue to help build stronger and safer communities, protect Baltimore City youth, and provide

them with unique opportunities for success. Here’s a taste of what’s to come…

Liquor Ordinance proposes to ban liquor stores from selling food, goods, wears or any other merchandise to youth under the age of 21. The logic behind the ordinance is to stop the normalization of the liquor store environment to adolescents, and to create other quality areas of commercial opportunities in our communities.

The implementation of Safe Streets, a community mobilization and outreach program designed to combat shootings and homicides. This intervention targets both high-risk youth aged 14-25 through outreach and service connection, and the community through a media campaign and community mobilization. The effort to bring Safe Streets to the community was spearheaded by the Greater Mondawmin Coordinating Council (GMCC).

City Year, founded in 1988 by two Harvard Law students, is a program created to address the national dropout crisis. The focus of the organization is to leverage corporate sponsored teams of diverse young adults from around the world to provide a host of programs and services for a period of 10 months. The core teams, or corps, work to improve student attendance, behavior, and course performance in English and math. The program, which has been implemented in twenty-three cities in the United States, has served thousands of at-risk youth.

In March, Councilman Mosby introduced City Year to the Baltimore City Council, and proposed to bring representatives from the organization to Baltimore to discuss implementing the program in the Baltimore City Public School System. The hearing for this bill has been set for May.

7th District Highlights Constituent concerns addressed 1,000+

Community Association Meetings attended 60Resolutions distributed 18Ordinances introduced 2

Social Media (both Twitter and Facebook) Followers 702

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In the early 90’s, a group of Salisbury University college kids, bored with the art scene on the Eastern Shore, hopped into their Jalopy and drove west in search of something…more. They found themselves in downtown Baltimore at Atomic Books, the Holy Grail of bookstores for those who liked to read underground self-published books, magazines, periodicals and the like. They bought as much as they could, and lived off of those items until they saved enough money to make another trip into Baltimore.

After graduating from Salisbury, one of those young men, Benn Ray, relocated to Baltimore and befriended Atomic Books owner, Scott Huffines. In 2000, Huffines call it quits and closed the bookstore’s doors. Benn, and his then fiancée Rachel Whang, were disappointed to see Atomic Books go. “Not every city in the country had a bookstore like this that focused on underground publishing,” says Ray. So, in 2001, they decided to reopen as a means to preserve and share the unique flavor Atomic Books offered Baltimore.

The couple decided Hampden was the perfect place for the Atomic Books, especially since they lived in the community. They settled in a storefront on Hampden’s infamous 36th Street, but soon outgrew that location. In 2008, they relocated to where they sit today on Falls Road.

Atomic Books, which is described on the store’s website as an “independent bookstore full of objects made of paper, vinyl, plastic and various other actual materials at the edge

of time,” offers an eclectic selection of art, books, comics, magazines, toys and music. This varied selection is what enabled Atomic Books to thrive when other community-based bookstores were swallowed up by a widely-known bookstore chain. “We cater to a different niche that supports the curated collection we carry in our store,” says Ray. “Our specialty has always been something they don’t carry.” Another thing that sustains Atomic Books is their international internet mail-order business where people from Brazil, Italy, Japan and South America log on to make purchases. And, to make them stand out even more, Atomic Books also acts as the fan mail site for Baltimore legend, John Waters.

If you haven’t already experienced Atomic Books, then head over to 3620 Falls Road right now. The staff is welcoming and will greet you with a smile, and, if you’re lucky, you will walk out of the door with a bag filled with works by some of the best underground writers in the country.

Browse Atomic Books’ collection online at www.atomicbooks.com. To find out about upcoming events, follow them on Twitter @atomicbooks and Facebook.com/AtomicBooks.

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Dr. Anne O. Emery is a living legend. The Alabama native and Tuskegee University alum came to Baltimore in 1960 with the intention of taking a summer course at Morgan State University and then returning to her husband in New Orleans, but God had a different plan. While she was in Baltimore, she was offered, and accepted, a job teaching science at Lemmell Jr. High. Her husband, not wanting to remain in the deep south, where racial tensions were high, relocated to be with his wife, and started teaching in Cherry Hill.

Over the next two decades, Dr. Emery was promoted to Science Department Head, at Lemmell and held that position for seven years; an Assistant Principal at Rock Glen Jr. High; principal of the then newly-constructed Walbrook Sr. High School; and finally as Assistant Superintendent of the Baltimore City Public School System before retiring in 1998.

“I stayed retired for twenty-one years,” says Dr. Emery. “Until the day a group of young men came to my door asking that I help them start a school for boys.” Those “young men” included Dr. Kirk P. Gaddy, Councilman Carl Stokes, former elected official Edwin Johnson and long-standing Baltimore City school administrator, Kevin Parsons. Their goal was to open a school for boys that would provide an “intellectually and academically rigorous pre-college preparatory education for boys in 6th-12th grade.”

Immediately, Dr. Emery understood the fierce urgency to open the school. “I believe boys are an endangered species,” says Dr. Emery. “As the mother of three sons, three grandsons and two great-grandsons, I understand that if we don’t intervene to help these boys in the inner city, then who will?” Heeding the call, Dr. Emery came out of retirement to serve as the Chair of the Board of Directors of the Bluford Drew Jemison Science Technology Engineering Mathematics (STEM) Academy, the only all-male STEM Academy in the state of Maryland, housed, ironically enough, in Walbrook High School.

Four years into the program, Bluford now has 1,000 young men enrolled. Students are in the academic program until 3pm, and after the normal school day ends, Bluford youngsters move to their extended day program where they either take remedial courses, or participate in extra-curricular activities, including an engineering program ran by Morgan State University. Each of them is being prepared not only for college entrance, but to be part of a generation of scholars who will be confident, self-assured and ready to compete in the world.

For more information about Bluford Jemison STEM Academy, please visit www.bdjacademy.org.

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Dr. Anne Emery with Councilman Mosby

Dr. Anne Emery with Councilman Mosby

In October 2011, a group of concerned citizens met at the intersection of Auchentoroly Terrace and Gwynns Falls to discuss how they could improve what many consider to be one of the most dangerous traffic areas in Baltimore City. Representatives from the Howard P. Rawlings Conservatory & Gardens, Friends of Druid Hill Park, New Auchentoroly Terrace and Mondawmin Neighborhood Associations, Greater Mondawmin Coordinating Council, and other local residents developed a list of things they wanted to complete to beautify the area, but they didn’t know how to go about turning their ideas into reality. That is, until they met Deborah Patterson and her organization ARTblocks.

Baltimore native, artist and educator, Deborah Patterson, knew exactly what needed to be done. Placemaking. Trained at Fleisher Art Memorial in Philadelphia, Patterson learned the art of placemaking, a multi-faceted approach to the planning, design and management of public space, through the Project for Public Spaces in New York, and brought that knowledge back to the Pimlico/Park Heights Community. She worked with youth at the Arts and Community Center for 12 years creating chalk and tile murals and clay sculptures. In 2010, Deborah received an Arts in the Community Grant which allowed her to take drawings of kids jumping rope, created by children from the Pimlico Road Youth Program, and have them converted to cutout steel figures, which the kids painted before they were bolted to a fence along Pimlico Road. The children named the placement “Double Dutch”. After witnessing firsthand the revitalization art brought to the Pimlico neighborhood, Deborah decided to found ARTblocks, and organization founded to help communities “create a comprehensive plan for their public spaces that is uniquely their own”.

In November 2011, Deborah conducted a placemaking workshop with the collaborative group and watched as community members came together to clean, and then plant, 1000 flower bulbs along the entrance of Druid Hill Park. Once that task was complete, they began to prepare for their next big job, raising the money to create an elephant procession along the intersection of Auchentoroly Terrace and Gwynns Falls. In March, the Auchentoroly Terrace Neighborhood Association received a $20,000 PNC Transformative Art Project Grant to bring their dream of the parading elephants to life.

“It is amazing what happens when people, regardless of race, color, religious background, come together and are given the space to create,” says Deborah. It is a testament to vision for which ARTblocks was founded to “see the unique creative spirit and inventiveness of every Baltimore community reflected and expressed in its publics spaces.”

For more information on

ARTblocks, visit www.artblocks.org.

Follow them on Twitter @artblocks and www.facebook.com/ARTblocks to keep up with future

placement workshops and projects.

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“It’s not about where you begin, it’s about how you finish.” These are words spoken by 20-year-old Shalik Fulton whose beginning was not unlike many young people living in the inner city. Fulton was born in West Baltimore. His mother, who was addicted to crack cocaine, died when he was two-years-old, leaving him to be raised by his grandmother.

As a youngster, Fulton witnessed many of the tragedies associated with inner city living—drug abuse, violence, poverty—but his grandmother instilled within him a desire for more. “My grandmother used to say to me all of the time, ‘when you grow up, you’re going to be the Mayor’,” says Fulton. “That always stuck with me.”

Those seeds planted by his grandmother began to germinate as far back as Fulton can remember. The Stevenson University freshman became active in school Student Government Associations, developed public speaking skills, and began to embrace his drive to help others.

By the time he was in high school at Edmondson, he was also serving as President of the Associated Student Congress of Baltimore City, representing all 84,000 Baltimore City students. He was also the Executive Director of the Maryland State Student Council, where his exemplar work with that Council earned him recognition from the Governor. Through all of his appointments, Fulton never lost sight of his community where he volunteered countless hours at recreational centers in his neighborhood. Soon after, Mayor

Stephanie Rawlings-Blake took notice and appointed Fulton the 7th District’s Youth Commissioner. In December, Councilman Nick J. Mosby tapped Fulton to join the 7th District team as his Youth Coordinator. The two met in 2010, when Councilman Mosby mentored Fulton through the Omega Academy, sponsored by Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. “Shalik has achieved far more that most of us had even thought of achieving when we were his age,” says Councilman Mosby. “He was the perfect choice to represent the youth of the 7th District.”

As part of the 7th District team, Fulton serves a dual role. First, he is the liaison between the office and youth in the community, and, secondly, he serves as Youth Editor of SEVENth Magazine. Both roles will enable him to provide a space for Baltimore’s youth to be heard.Ten years from now, in 2021, Shalik Fulton sees himself in the office of Maryland’s top elected official. “Ultimately, I want to be the first African American governor of Maryland,” says Fulton. “I want young people to see me, know that I walked the same streets they walked, and was able to make something positive of my life not only for me, but for them, too.”

Look for Shalik’s first feature in the next issue of SEVENth Magazine.

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In the next Issue:Baltimore City 7th District Youth Advisory

Urban Farming7th District Updates

Website: www.nickjmosby.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/councilmannickjmosby

Twitter: www.twitter.com/councilmanmosby

SEVEN: www.issuu.com/SEVENthmag