Anyone who’s stayed in the city of Baltimore long enough knows that those few surviving pockets of history and culture that still exist are surrounded by an overwhelming sea of poverty and crime. My school lies right beside North Avenue, the theoretical border which separates a relatively quiet neighborhood from a nearly endless ghetto. (Not to say that the Bolton Hill area is not safe from muggings, break-ins, drug-dealing, and other felonies; MICA students are regularly warned. And it is often said, “Don’t cross North Avenue!”)

But here’s a couple of guys who are doing something to help revive what parts of the city they can:

TechBalt.com encourages Rybbys (Risk-taking Young Baltimoreans) to bring the fruits of their education back to the city to try and help improve their neghborhoods.

Madison Ave Substation documents a man’s struggle to deal with rampant drug-dealing right outside his own home, by constructing a makeshift substation for Baltimore police to use as a rest stop and outpost. (Note: this one has everything on a single HTML page, so it’s rather large: about 2MB. Fast connection recommended.) Quite an amazing — and often sad — story.

I’m emailing them both right now, to see if there’s something I can do to assist. I’d love to help set up a blog for the substation, seeing as how that page is so huge right now. Hey, Baltimore bloggers, anyone else want in?