Volunteer Spotlight: Jacie Peacock

This summer, we sent off our incredible TMA AmeriCorps VISTA, Jacie Peacock, as she takes the next big step in her journey: starting her Master’s in Architecture at Morgan State University!

During her service year with NDC, Jacie jumped right in and quickly became an integral part of our team. She led the ambitious launch of a three-year initiative, Building, Sharing, and Equalizing Power Through Community Design — a project designed to strengthen and measure our capacity building work with community partners across Baltimore City.

The project addresses the pressing need for long-term capacity building among the community partners that the Neighborhood Design Center engages with through our Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) sponsored work in low-to-moderate income communities in Baltimore City.

While capacity building is always either a direct goal, and/or by-product of our work, this is contained to individual projects and project partners. By prioritizing relationship building amongst our partners and the provision of digital and print educational resources, the project aims to further empower individuals and organizations within the communities where we do our work.

This approach is particularly crucial in Baltimore City, where both actual and perceived resource scarcity results in a competitive landscape, and access to relationships and existing power structures plays a pivotal role in securing funding and implementing neighborhood improvement projects. This project recognizes the importance of capacity building not only as a means to empower individuals but also as a strategy to redistribute power within the community.

Thank you Jacie, and best of luck in your architecture master’s program at Morgan State University!