Neighborhoods: Choo Smith's plan for Arise Baltimore in Cold Spring

By Tom Hall,

Teria Rogers, Malarie Pinkard-Pierre, Rob Sivak

Published February 8, 2023 at 12:38 PM EST

An artist's rendering of Arise Baltimore, the so-called "Communiversity" being developed by Charles "Choo" Smith and his partners. To be built on the site of an old high school, the center would create new educational, athletic, retail and residential space in the Northwest Baltimore neighborhood of Cold Spring. (image credit Arise Baltimore Development) — An artist's rendering of Arise Baltimore, the so-called "Communiversity" being developed by Charles "Choo" Smith and his partners. To be built on the site of a former high school, the center would create a new educational, athletic, retail and residential space in the Northwest Baltimore neighborhood of Cold Spring. (image credit Arise Baltimore Development)

Charles "Choo" Smith, Baltimore native and former Harlem Globetrotters star, is the president of Choo Smith Youth Empowerment and Arise Baltimore. (photo courtesy Choo Smith)

Now, another installment in our Midday in the Neighborhoodseries, which we are producing in cooperation with our news partners at the Baltimore Banner. Today, we meet a Baltimore native who has toured the world as one of the legendary Harlem Globetrotters, and who has returned to his hometown to give back in a substantial way.

Charles "Choo" Smith, who founded and heads a youth coaching enterprise calledChoo Smith Youth Empowerment, is working on a project to build what he calls a “Communiversity” — an educational and athletic "life center" in the Cold Spring, Parklane and Edgecomb neighborhoods of Northwest Baltimore. Choo Smith joins Tom in Studio A…

Also joining us in Studio A is our colleague Jasmine Vaughn Hall, who covers West Baltimore for the Baltimore Banner, and wrote a feature last month about Smith's Arise Baltimore project.

Jasmine Vaughn-Hall is a Neighborhood and Community reporter for the Baltimore Banner (photo credit Kirk McKoy/BaltimoreBanner)

There are 278 named communities in the city of Baltimore, and from time to time we will talk about what’s going on in some of those communities in our series, Midday in the Neighborhood, which we're producing now in partnership with our colleagues at the Baltimore Banner. If you’ve got an idea for featuring your community in the Banner and on Midday, let us know! Drop us an e mail at [email protected].