School-centered community development: Lessons from Baltimore’s 21st century school buildings program

Abstract

This article uses the case of Baltimore’s 21st Century School Buildings Program (21CSBP) to investigate the potential of leveraging a school facilities investment for community development. We find that school facilities investments have the potential to catalyze community development along four domains: social, institutional, economic, and physical. However, existing market conditions and community trust and social cohesion can facilitate or constrain whether and how schools catalyze community development. Leveraging school building investments for community development hinges on a clear vision and staff capacity for implementation. Finally, definitional, geographic, and jurisdictional divides between school districts and city agencies can complicate the potential for cross-sector connections at the neighborhood level. Our findings underscore the possibilities of school facilities investments and community schools for supporting community development and affirm the deep-seeded challenges that stakeholders face to work as collective stewards of a shared social agenda for school and neighborhood change.

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