2 college students — and a growing fan club — are reinvigorating a West Baltimore shed

The gray, half-block-long shed along a passageway prone to litter and dumping in the 1400 block of West Baltimore Street is easy to overlook.

It’s boarded up and covered with graffiti. It’s also becoming a neighborhood destination.

Isonah Ngouabe Dlodlo and Jaylen Daley, who grew up and live nearby but attend out-of-state colleges, are working to transform the vacant building into a community space. What started as a summer internship assignment turned into a passion project — and now, as they return to college, a community effort.

A TikTok video they made to promote the project was viewed over 25,000 times and flooded with supportive comments.

The duo’s goal is to create a place that appeals to multiple generations in and around the Union Square and Franklin Square neighborhoods.

While exact uses are still being debated, Ngouabe Dlodlo envisions it as a place to grab a coffee or the setting for a community market or visiting-artist workshop. After all, West Baltimore was once a stomping ground for artists like Cab Calloway and Billie Holiday.

Maybe kids could come from schools — Vivien T. Thomas Medical Arts Academy is up the street — to engage in science, math and art.

“The main focus has been community resilience and how we can get the community embedded into these projects and have their needs reflected in the space,” said Ngouabe Dlodlo, 22, a rising senior at Hamilton College.

The summer and the internships are ending, but the project is just getting started. They secured a local contractor, Straight Weld Harris LLC. But around the way, the business owner is known as “Mr. Keith.” The first phase, estimated to cost about $21,000, will focus on the shed’s doors, walls, windows and roof. The next phase, to fix up the interior, will need more permits and $100,000 or more in funding. Daley and Ngouabe Dlodlo are going to keep working on fundraising and paperwork.

There’s a long road ahead, but they’ve already come a long way.

Last month, Ngouabe Dlodlo and Daley, a 19-year-old incoming sophomore at Tufts University, began internships with Women’s Home Preservation, founded by Ngouabe Dlodlo’s mother. The real estate development firm and nonprofit focuses on disinvested communities and has several West Baltimore Street properties, including the Ford Building, where a company once manufactured carriages, buggies and wagons.

The business corridor has strayed far from what long-timers remember as its heyday, when it bustled with a hardware store, a laundromat, a furniture store and even a place that sold and repaired pianos.

The shed was once used as a storage area next to the Ford Building. Then it sat vacant for many years. The two properties are separated by North Norris Street, an alleyway that will eventually be redesigned with a colorful street mural to make the area feel more welcoming and less blighted.

Nadine Ngouabe Dlodlo said her organization intended for the shed to be used by young people when it purchased the property in 2022. The organization applied for a STEM-related grant through a technology nonprofit and didn’t get it, she said. Efforts went cold.

This summer, Nadine Ngouabe Dlodlo watched as her daughter and Daley imbued the shed project with fresh ideas and creativity.

“We as adults need to be courageous enough to trust them and give them the full range to bring their creativity to life,” Nadine Ngouabe Dlodlo said.

Isonah Ngouabe Dlodlo is studying computer science and media at Hamilton in Kirkland, New York, and Daley is studying mechanical engineering at Tufts near Boston.

Much of their summer involved behind-the-scenes tasks so that the contractor could begin work.

The pair spent time researching and connecting with community members. Isonah Ngouabe Dlodlo created project designs, and they applied for at least a half-dozen grants.

The shed is in a historic district, so Ngouabe Dlodlo spent about a month addressing requirements from the Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation and applying for permits.

Daley nominated the area to become a federal Opportunity Zone, which encourages long-term private investment and offers tax incentives to investors.

They also gave site tours to officials with the Baltimore Development Corporation, the mayor’s office, the city Department of Planning and state Sen. Antonio Hayes, to name a few.

Hayes, who was raised in West Baltimore, said he appreciated the work to center community and ask residents what they’d like to see and experience at the shed.

“I think having that kind of transparency and community engagement will go a long way,” Hayes said.

He also encouraged them to look for capital funding opportunities through the state.

People who responded to social media posts by Ngouabe Dlodlo and Daley wanted to know if they could support the project by volunteering or throwing a few bucks their way.

They’ve since set up a GoFundMe with a goal of $30,000 to help with electricity, plumbing, walls and insulation. They have raised about $800 so far.

“It just makes us feel like what we’re doing has a real impact,” Ngouabe Dlodlo said.

They also created a newsletter to keep people informed about the project and to share ideas about what the shed can be.

Bif Browning, a Union Square resident, isn’t surprised to see Ngouabe Dlodlo and Daley at the helm of the project. He has watched them grow into “top-notch” young adults.

Ngouabe Dlodlo is already back to college, and Daley will be heading back at the beginning of September, but they’re confident they’ve put enough in place to keep the project moving forward.

“Being young is a superpower,” Ngouabe Dlodlo said. “When you’re young and you’re doing something, it inspires so many more people for some reason.”