BUILD – Baltimoreans United in Leadership Development – is a broad-based community power organization, rooted in Baltimore’s neighborhoods and churches.We are non-partisan, interfaith, multiracial, and dedicated to making our city a better place for all Baltimoreans to live and thrive. You’ll find us working for change on front stoops and in living rooms, in churches and classrooms, in City Hall and at the State House in Annapolis.

For 30 years, BUILD has worked to improve housing, increase job opportunities, and rebuild schools, among other issues.We are a non-profit supported by the dues of our member organizations and by business leaders, corporations, foundations, and individuals who believe in our goal of making Baltimore a better place to live, work, and raise a family.

Our fight to save our young people is not new. Throughout our history, we’ve nurtured and invested in youth in our city:

• We started Commonwealth – a partnership with city schools, government, and business – because our youth needed a good education that led to meaningful work.
• We started College Bound because our young people had big dreams and needed a helping hand to attend college.
• We started the first living wage campaign in the nation because our children needed strong families.
• We built more than 700 Nehemiah homes in East and West Baltimore because families needed decent and affordable places to live.
• We started Child First, the first major effort in the city to provide after-school programs, because our children needed to be safe and stretch their minds.