HISTORY
Founded in 1993, the Edmondson Community Organization has been, for decades, both a key community leader in the Midtown-Edmondson area of Baltimore, as well as an important convener of a wide range of community groups - including for station-area planning related to the Red Line light rail project.
In 2022, the ECO was reinvigorated with new leadership, a new board, an updated registration with the State of Maryland, and an updated registration with the IRS as a 501(c)(3) non-profit. Rapid, equitable, transformational revitalization of the disinvested areas in Midtown-Edmondson and nearby communities is the ECO’s primary focus now.
To help the ECO in that endeavor, it has linked up with the HUB West Baltimore Community Development Corporation and agreed to incorporate that organization directly into the ECO’s structure, under the supervision of the ECO’s board, making it part and parcel of the ECO’s 501(c)(3). HUB West Baltimore is now the development-focused unit of the ECO, wholly controlled by that parent organization, and concentrating at the ECO’s direction on the physical and transportation-related goals of the community.
TEAM
President, Edmondson Community Organization - Joe Richardson
Joe came to the ECO from the organized labor world, where he served in the Local 1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers union. A 20-year resident of Baltimore and an owner in Midtown-Edmondson, he believes deeply in the area’s potential as an equitably-revitalized center of Baltimore’s African-American community. He grew up in New York, and his experience there, during that city’s transformation from bankruptcy to boomtown, tells him that development will find its way to communities with storied histories, great locations and world-class architecture. He just wants to ensure that that redevelopment happens now instead of 20 or 30 years from now. And most important, he wants to make sure that the benefits of that revitalization accrue, firstly, to the existing residents and stakeholders.
Email: jrich.eco@gmail.com
Executive Director, HUB West Baltimore - Jonathan Sacks
HUBWestBaltimore.org
Jonathan was born and raised in West Baltimore (Bolton Hill), and is a fourth generation West Baltimorean - with his father growing up eight blocks north of the West Baltimore MARC Station. He has experience with development in Washington, and has had a front row seat for decades there, to witness the torrid pace of revitalization, as well as the true marginalization of groups left out of the benefit equation. He believes things could be done differently in West Baltimore - and that good planning, quality government leadership, a recognition of structural racism’s continued effects on the city today, and a firm commitment to right those wrongs are the keys. His academic background is in regional development and finance. He has degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton School.
Email: jsacks@hubwestbaltimore.org
Treasurer, Edmondson Community Organization - Sandra Burrell
Sandra is a native of Baltimore and a resident of Midtown-Edmondson. She moved to California in the early 1980s to begin her career in accounting and bookkeeping. Among other organizations, she worked for nearly 16 years for Sharp Business Systems, an industry leader in office technology. In their San Diego office she served as Accounting Supervisor, Administrative Supervisor, Support Administrator, Lease Administrator and Office Manager. Outside of accounting and finance, she’s served as the Trustee Board Chair at Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church, managing the church budget and funds and preparing financial reports, among other duties. She returned to Baltimore in 2014 to care for her parents. She’s a devoted grandmother and finds great joy in helping the elderly in the neighborhood.
Email: sburrell.eco@gmail.com
