Last Updated on May 8, 2025
Sandtown Connection
Ted Churn and Dan Matthews, Co-Leaders
Our Mission: Listen, Learn, Seek Understanding
Born from the aftermath of the 2015 unrest following Freddie Grace death at the hands of the police, CSC was founded by concerned Charlestown residents determined to make a difference. Ten years later the partnership continues collaborating with non-profit organizations in the Sandtown area of Baltimore City. They are New Song Learning Center (fundraising, tutoring), No Boundaries Fresh at the Avenue (food market}, Jubilee Arts (scholarships for classes in the arts), and Turnaround Tuesday (coaching and life skills to return to work.)
Board of Director meetings are open to volunteers and residents. Guests welcome.
| SCHEDULE | TIME | LOCATION |
| First Wednesday in even months | 11 AM – 12:30 PM | Brookside Classroom 2 |
Remaining Meetings for 2025: June 4, August 6, October 1, December 3
Our Story
Born from the aftermath of the 2015 unrest following Freddie Gray’s death at the hands of the police, cSc was founded by concerned residents determined to make a difference. A decade later, we continue our mission as a registered 501(c)(3) organization, guided by a committed Board of Directors. We support four non-profit community organizations: New Song Academy, No Boundaries Coalition, Jubilee Arts, and Turnaround Tuesday.
What We Do
cSc supports the organizations in the Sandtown community through:
- Volunteer Mobilization: Connecting passionate individuals with meaningful opportunities to serve.
- Fundraising Initiatives: Generating resources to fuel impactful programs.
Our Impact
For over 10 years, we’ve been:
- Fostering meaningful relationships between Charlestown residents and the Sandtown community.
- Supporting initiatives that create lasting positive change.
- Building bridges of understanding across diverse neighborhoods.
The Charlestown-Sandtown Connection (cSc) has a new landing page to make it easy to sign up for the quarterly newsletter. The link can be found on MyErickson > Clubs/Organization> Charlestown-Sandtown Connection or here on CCIcharlestown.org. Your name will go directly to the MailChimp website which is used for the newsletter.
Charlestown Sandtown Newsletter
Charlestown-Sandtown Connection table at the September 2023 Fruits of Our Labors
Charlestown-Sandtown Connection November 2023 News
The Charlestown Sandtown Connection (sCs) is pleased to present representatives from the sponsoring organizations on November 17, 2023, from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. in the Gallery. With Dan Matthews, a New Song Tutor and cSc board member, as the moderator, we will see a video of the poem Broken Humanity by James Smith, Jr., a recent 8th grade graduate of New Song Academy. Dan will then introduce representatives from the four non-profit organizations that the cSc supports. This year we are excited to have a New Song Academy graduate, Cortez Fisher, MBA who is a financial analyst at Exelon-PHI and NSCLC Board member talk about New Song.
We will learn about the programs from No Boundaries, Jubilee Arts, Turnaround Tuesday, and New Song Community Learning Center. After presentations from the four groups there will be time for questions and for meeting the representatives individually.
Lon Chesnut, cSc Leader, reminds us that the Sandtown Connection grew out of the 2015 Uprising in Sandtown after Freddie Gray’s death. Charlestown residents’ role is to listen, learn, and understand more about Sandtown. Volunteers are aways welcome.