Supporting community engagement and stakeholder alignment during the redevelopment of Baltimore's historic Avenue Market.
Community engagement work completed with Joltage Innovation, prior to the formation of lowercase. Ana joined the project in Spring 2023, with Swathi joining in Fall 2023.
Avenue Market is one of Baltimore’s oldest public markets, serving a historically underserved neighborhood that has experienced decades of disinvestment and limited access to fresh food. More than a commercial space, the market holds generations of memory, cultural identity, and community connection.
Working as part of the community engagement team at Joltage Innovation, Ana and Swathi helped maintain channels of communication between merchants, redevelopment teams, and institutional stakeholders as plans for the market moved forward.
Staying present through change.
Redevelopment can move faster than trust can follow.
Ana and Swathi supported facilitation of monthly merchant meetings throughout the process, helping merchants stay informed while creating space for ongoing dialogue with redevelopment stakeholders. Rather than treating engagement as a series of one-off check-ins, the meetings created a consistent presence where questions, concerns, frustrations, and hopes could surface as the project evolved—not only when there was news to share.
Translating conversation into action.
Listening only matters if it goes somewhere.
Insights gathered through these conversations were translated into actionable feedback for the development team, architects, and communication partners involved in the project. This helped create a clearer path between what people shared in the room and the decisions being made about the market’s future.
Making room for memory.
Engagement was also an opportunity to understand what Avenue Market meant beyond the redevelopment itself.
Alongside the more structured engagement work, they also organized community-centered programming, including a "Coffee & Conversation" event where patrons shared personal memories, experiences, and aspirations for the future of the market.
Moments like this reminded everyone involved, that the market wasn't just a site under redevelopment. It was, and is, a place people belong to.
