Amtrak awards first community grants to offset West Baltimore tunnel construction

Amtrak has awarded the first tranche of community grants for West Baltimore, kicking off a multiyear effort to fund projects designed in part to offset the impact of its nearby tunnel construction.

The 11 recipients include a city government office, nonprofit organizations and schools doing community and workforce development initiatives located within a quarter-mile of the future Frederick Douglass Tunnel.

Construction of the $6 billion passenger rail tunnel with endpoints at Baltimore’s Penn Station and just northeast of the West Baltimore MARC station has upended life in area neighborhoods. Amtrak has billed its $50 million investment program as one way to mitigate the construction upheaval by beautifying neighborhoods, increasing transportation access and training residents for tunnel construction jobs.

“As we continue to see historic progress across our city — including through projects like this one, with regional and national significance — we want to make sure Baltimoreans feel the positive impacts,” Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott said in a news release.

The Baltimore City Office of Information Technology, part of Scott’s office, received funds to provide computer and digital skills training at five locations in the Midtown-Edmondson, Sandtown-Winchester, Bolton Hill and Penn North neighborhoods.

Jonathan Sacks, who helps run the Edmondson Community Organization in Midtown-Edmondson, said his group’s grant will help build a park. Parity Baltimore, a nonprofit that works to turn vacant houses into affordable new homes, also got funding for streetscape improvements in Midtown-Edmondson.

Other awards include after-school and jobs-skills programs at schools, along with funds to help preserve a historic mansion in Reservoir Hill, according to Amtrak.

“This is the first of many community investments we will make over the coming decade as Amtrak works to deliver a modern tunnel that improves rail service while creating lasting benefits for Baltimore,” said Luigi Rosa, an assistant vice president at Amtrak and the passenger railroad’s lead for the tunnel program.

Applications for the next round of grant funding will open in the spring.