Upcoming Events

Caroling & Cookies
Sunday, December 22, 3-5pm
Franklin Square & Hollins Market Neighborhoods

A time to bring joy, sweets, and warmth to the neighborhood with homemade cookies, donations of warm clothing, and Christmas carols. Starting at Franklin Square Park, we'll walk the neighborhoods caroling and handing out cookies, coats and blankets, then end in Hollins Market for hot chocolate and more Christmas treats! Can’t come caroling? Join us for cookie baking at Crossroads on Saturday, December 21st from 1-3pm! We will also have an option to meet at Crossroads and carpool to Hollins Market on Sunday afternoon. Click below to sign up!

 
 

42-44 S. Carrollton Ave.

On August 30, 2024, Crossroads closed the property purchase of 42-44 S. Carrollton Ave. as a permanent site to continue the missional work of the Garden Mission!

Have time or skills to help with cleaning and preparing the property? Contact Pastor Randy (randyclay@crossroadsnaz.org) for ways to get involved.

 
 
 

Our Story

 

The Garden Mission: Baltimore is a faith-based community development group with the mission of investing in Southwest Baltimore. The Garden Mission will be a community hub of small businesses and ministries acting together to create a small pocket of “heaven on earth” by providing essential goods and services in ways that offer dignity, belonging, and purpose to all people of Southwest Baltimore (SOWEBO).

Our story is rooted in a 100-year history since 1925, when the First Church of Baltimore was birthed in Baltimore City for the purpose of community betterment. Over the next 50 years the First Church of Baltimore would find its home in the suburbs of Ellicott City (renamed Crossroads Church of the Nazarene) where its Mission continued to grow. Yet while the church was flourishing, its city home was in the beginnings of a decades-long period of injustice, decline and disinvestment, the impacts of which can be seen and felt today. It’s into these conditions, as it was 100 years ago, our Mission is seeking to plant itself, take root and bear fruit in its Baltimore City home once again.

 
 

Our goal is to revivify a socially, economically, and spiritually thriving community in the neighborhood of Hollins Market, Baltimore City by:

  • INVESTING in people and places with missing services, business and residential opportunities.

  • STRENGTHENING communities by creating high quality, safe and accessible spaces for growing relationships.

  • REPRESENTING Christ and allowing Him to draw others into a personal relationship.

 
 
 

What we’ve been doing:

Maintaining long-term partner relationships with:

Establishing new partnerships:

  • Black Cat Bakery (Hollins Market, Baltimore):

    • being present, building relationships, meeting material needs

    • co-hosting a Fall Block Party, a Friendsgiving event, a Cookies & Caroling event,

  • Collaborating, learning from, and meeting with the Southwest Partnership and other community stakeholders.

What we’re imagining:

Developing mixed-use, mixed-income accessible sites in the Hollins Market neighborhood as a community hub for retail, housing and ministry where living out the presence of Jesus brings heaven on earth (Matthew 6:10). Ideas:

  • Community kindness

  • Peopling spaces, or “third spaces” - places to gather after work, after school, etc.

  • Meeting material needs: personal services (laundry, barber, etc.)

  • After school art club, sports and games

  • Fresh food distribution, specialty food

 

Watch: Why Baltimore

 
 
 

Where we need you:

We are looking for people who can advise and participate in the following areas:

  • Administrative Work

  • Commercial Real Estate/Property Acquisition

  • 501c3 Nonprofit Incorporation

  • Grant Writing & Fundraising

  • Non-Profit Planning & Leadership

  • Financial Sponsorship/Funding

    There are many areas where you, your family, or your community group can help with projects & presence in the neighborhood of Hollins Market:

    Weekly Programs
    Soup @ Six (Black Cat Bakery) - Every Friday
    Garden Grounds Coffee Shop @ Black Cat Bakery

    Monthly Programs

    Work Day (Black Cat Bakery)
    Arts & Games (Black Cat Bakery)

    Ongoing Personal Service & Advocacy

    Dental Care
    Legal Aid
    First Aid Care
    Tax Assistance
    Disability Benefit Navigation
    Housing Benefit Navigation
    Immigration Support

    Community Events
    April: Easter Event
    May: Serve Day
    June: School’s Out Event
    August: Back-to-School Event
    October: Autumn Block Party
    November: Friendsgiving
    December: Caroling & Winter Clothing Giveaway

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Contact Pastor Randy Clay,
Executive Director of
The Garden Mission: Baltimore
randyclay@crossroadsnaz.org