The Downtown Baltimore Family Alliance was founded in 2008 as an outgrowth of the emerging network of young families in Baltimore's waterfront communities. Recognizing the critical role downtown families have to play in the ongoing renaissance of the city, but the absence of any formal organization to support this population and encourage its growth, local community leaders and parents formed DBFA to nurture collaborative efforts to develop family life in the heart of Baltimore. DBFA recognizes that retaining and attracting families is a powerful and necessary instrument of urban revitalization and therefore seeks to engage socially active parents and community leaders, as we gradually expand to address downtown neighborhoods beyond the waterfront.

The Novel

DBFA finds it origins in a community of parents, uniting across downtown neighborhoods, collecting their talents, and devoting their time toward the enrichment of the neighborhoods and the city that they love.

Rebecca Smith —downtown mother of two, doctoral student, and active community volunteer —had an idea. As the co-facilitator of an informal network of families with children in Southeast Baltimore, SEBaltCityKids, Rebecca had watched the population of children in her Upper Fells Point community and other downtown neighborhoods steadily grow during her four years' residence there. Despite the fact that the family population was thriving —that downtown offered a vibrant body of parents, rich cultural resources, great parks, and several strong and viable public schools —it wasn't clear that many people had noticed. Downtown Baltimore continued to be marketed to young professionals and empty nesters, and the refrain perisisted that the schools were poor and that the city was not a place where anyone would choose to raise children.

The family network in Southeast Baltimore, through which families interacted in person and online, had an equally active counterpart across the harbor in South Baltimore. Each group had already shown its mettle by organizing playgroups and parent socials, hosting children's holiday events, and successfully advocating for their communities on initiatives related to education, parks, and public safety. But there was little interaction between the two groups. What might the potential for downtown family life be, Rebecca asked, if these parents could unite, formalize as an organization, and work together to actively improve the quality of life in their neighborhoods?

While family life downtown was already far better than most imagined, work still remained to be done: preschools had long waiting lists and parents needed quality high schools to match their excellent options for elementary and middle schools; families still had to trek outside downtown to meet some of their needs for shopping and children's enrichment classes; good public transportation was not yet a reality; parks could use more programming and some areas still needed playgrounds; stronger bridges could be built among families of different socioeconomic and racial categories; current, expecting, and relocating parents needed a reliable and centralized source of information on resources for raising kids downtown and how to connect with other parents. And while the downtown family population was expanding, Rebecca had a sense that this was only an inkling of the potential growth: what could happen if the community at large saw the possibility here and went after it? What might the potential for Baltimore be if downtown could be successful at developing and retaining a significant population of middle-income parents and children —a demographic that has been shown to create economic stability, improved schools, and strong communities?

After sitting on the idea for some time, in the fall of 2007, Rebecca pulled in two other downtown parents: Judy O'Brien —marketing executive, mother of two, and leader of the family network in Federal Hill, FedHillKids —and Emily Hiller, Little Italy mother of two and a former realtor who had been working on efforts to encourage downtown developers to incorporate greenspace and family-friendly amenities into their projects. The three discussed the issues and challenges, named the new organization, divvyed up responsibilities, and went to work. Each drew on her personal strengths and experience: Rebecca writing DBFA's literature, developing the goals and structure for the organization, and pursuing funding sources and nonprofit status; Judy working with designers on website and logo development, spearheading some of DBFA's first events, and establishing the highest standards of professionalism in presentation; Emily leading networking efforts, outlining the three-pronged scope of DBFA's efforts, and refining the purpose of DBFA to include not only improving family life downtown, but also promoting its current assets.

In November of 2007, with the organization still in its infancy, Rebecca, Judy, and Emily announced the creation of DBFA to the almost 1,000 parents who belonged to SEBaltCityKids and FedHillKids. DBFA held its first formal meeting in January of 2008, bringing parents across downtown together to develop a vision for quality family life in Baltimore's city center. Since the initial announcement, the response to DBFA from all sectors has been overwhelming. Parent and community leaders immediately stepped forward to stake an active role in shaping DBFA, volunteering expertise and services in everything from legal counsel to logo design. Nonprofit organizations, community associations, and local businesses offered to partner with DBFA on events and initiatives. City and school officials and elected leaders set aside time to meet with DBFA and discuss opportunities to work together.

In its first few months, between January and May of 2008, DBFA honed its mission, literature, and objectives; staffed its board of directors and committees; filed for nonprofit status with the IRS; hosted several events, including two parenting seminars, a holiday event for over 200 local children, and a parent social; developed a website, newsletter, and brochure; secured a $25,000 seed grant; and established relationships with community-based nonprofit organizations, government, schools, and the business sector.

The latter half of 2008 will see two days of community service and a day of donations to serve the needs of downtown families of lesser means; the development of book clubs, mothers-to-be groups, and other social and support venues for parents; events such as our harvest festival, a school fair to expose parents to the wonderful options for preschools and elementary schools downtown, and the continuation of our parent seminar series; a membership drive, including two events for DBFA members; the extension of our volunteer base; enhanced efforts to pursue funding to support our extensive programming and the addition of DBFA staff; expansion of our website to include parent resources and profiles of local schools and neighborhoods; and continued development of our partnerships with the community.

While initiated by a few, DBFA is a genuine example of a grassroots effort, and its standards of excellence reflect the extensive talents and capabilities of the many downtown parents and community leaders who have, since its inception, taken up its mission to foster family life in downtown Baltimore.