Local business owner awarded for York Road frontage improvement project – Newsroom

Loyola University Maryland’s York Road Initiative (YRI) and its partners recently celebrated one of the first York Road Facade Improvement Project awards, when Family Food Market owner Khawar Jameel received a $7,500 award to improve his storefront. Baltimore City Councilman Mark Conway presented Jamil with the award on September 23, 2022, in front of Jamil’s store.

The York Street Frontage Improvement Project will support businesses in the 4600-4700 and 5400–5700 blocks of York Street, the 5700 block of Bellona Street and the 500 block of Benninghouse Road. Awards of up to $15,000 each are part of the York Road Partnership’s broader community efforts and are funded by the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD).

The difference of the new face
The front of the Jamil Family Food Market will be transformed by a vibrant mural featuring produce and birds created in collaboration with artist Iandry Randriamandroso and Neighborhood Design Center. Randriamandroso designed and painted more bird paintings along the York Road corridor.

“I tell everyone that the project will help their business because the new facade will encourage more people to come to the store,” Jamil says.

Jamil, known to his customers as Mr. Jimmy, has been a longtime resident of the neighborhood, owning a family grocery store in the 5400 block of York Street for 17 years. He is motivated by his desire to support the community and encourages other store owners to get involved.

The store’s new facade also advertises Jamil’s involvement in FreshCrate, the fresh produce program through the university’s YRI. “Now people know they can find exactly what they need in the area,” said Jamil, the parent of Muhammad Jamil, who graduated from Loyola in May 2022.

The facade project began in spring 2020 with an award to paint and add light to Epiphany House, a senior housing community.

“This program has helped us preserve affordable housing and make the York Road corridor safer for people in our community,” said Nicole Doe Battle, CEO of the nonprofit GEDCO, a Baltimore regional neighborhood advocacy organization for the area and lead applicant for DHCD funding.

Community development efforts
The facade project is one way YRI has supported community development efforts along the neighboring York Road corridor for more than a decade.

“As an anchor institution, it is important for Loyola to support the community,” said Gia Grier McGinnis, executive director of Loyola’s Center for Community, Service and Justice (CCSJ). . “A thriving trade corridor brings people together and benefits the wider community.”

Malik Jordan, who works with Loyola as a project leader, agrees. “I’ve seen how clean and green revitalization efforts set the stage for success. We plant those seeds for change.

Looking to the future
The facade improvements are part of a larger effort to establish a Business Improvement District (BID) along the York corridor, with an owner vote expected in November.

“I couldn’t be more excited about what the next several years will mean for York Road, its businesses and the neighborhood,” said Baltimore Councilman Mark Conway. “These facade improvements and Loyola’s collaboration with community members and the 4th District office are key to a revitalized corridor.”