Page 7 - Kiya's Press Kit

Using these numbers the economic impact of blight, just in terms of lost
home equity is over a billion dollars. Beyond the dollars and cents, there
are physical health concerns associated with blight. “The Neighborhood
Blight, Stress, and Health: A Walking Trial of Urban Greening and
Ambulatory Heart Rate” study showed participants heart rates where
elevated when walking past vacant lots but were normalized once lots
were cleaned and greened (South, 2015). Additionally, Baltimore’s most
blighted neighborhoods: Sandtown-Winchester, Harlem Park, Upton, and
Druid Heights have life expectancies more than 10 years less than
Baltimore’s least blighted neighborhoods, according to the Baltimore
Neighborhood Indicators Alliance Vital Signs 15.

As I began identifying, documenting and reporting blight, I discovered
that there was no unified self-service application to keep track of the
blight and dangerous demolition conditions.. It became a major challenge
keeping up with reports of blight just within in my neighborhood. Fight
Blight Bmore (FBB) was born as a call to action to address blight and the
issues it causes for individuals and communities. It will provide a tool for
more effective and efficient management of data and reports of blight.
FBB is an environmental and social justice initiative. The first part of this
initiative is a mobile software application (i.e., App). The aim of the App is
to provide end users with a tool to identify, report and track blighted
properties with the option to analyze collected and connected data sets.

W W W . F I G H T B L I G H T B M O R E . C O M