TEAM
Joe Richardson
President, Edmondson Community Organization
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
Phone: 410-231-3096
Jonathan Sacks
Executive Director, HUB West Baltimore CDC
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
Phone: 410-756-0251
Leslie Johnson
Program Officer, Environment, Community Advocacy & Communication
Leslie is a native of Baltimore, grew up in Midtown-Edmondson and still lives there today. She’s been involved in many important local initiatives over the years in the area, including being the co-founder of the “Give a Sole, Save a Soul” shoe giveaway, which annually draws hundreds to the event. She’s media-native, media-first, and wants to use those communication skills to dramatically raise the profile of the community she lives in, and the neighbors she lives with. She’s leading the ECO’s environment initiatives, including helping to write - in partnership with the EPA (federal), and in consultation with a resident-led Advisory Committee - perhaps West Baltimore’s first community-directed Environment Plan, including major tree cover and greening-focused sections. She’s also leading the ECO’s “A Lot Matters” vacant lot beautification and activation program - that in partnership with the Baltimore Department of Planning and Civic works. She also runs the ECO outreach program related to Amtrak construction and the expanding concrete plant. Look for her in the community; she’s always out with her microphone and camera, interviewing, shooting slice of life videos, and posting them on the ECO’s new Instagram, Facebook and TikTok channels.
Email: ljohnson@hubwestbaltimore.org
Phone: 443-939-1281
Tahera Arrington
Environment & Community Advocacy
Tahera is a native of Baltimore and grew up in Midtown-Edmondson. A proud graduate of Walbrook High (Go Warriors!), and a former student at Coppin State, she’s a proud West Baltimorean, and has chosen to remain in Central West Baltimore and work for its reflowering and renewal. She is actually one of the ECO’s longest attending members, having started coming to the organization’s building as a middle-schooler. A devoted mother who finds great joy in helping the other children in the neighborhood, she hopes to one day restart a dance troupe for kids called Touched by God’s Grace, that played a big part in her childhood. Tahera will be running communications for the ECO and HUB, and leading advocacy and outreach for the community in its interactions with Amtrak and the expanding concrete plant.