West North Avenue Development Authority - Neighborhood Social Connection and Development Program - Establishment (WNADA Neighborhood Social Connection and Development Act)

EXPLANATION: CAPITALS INDICATE MATTER ADDED TO EXISTING LAW.
[Brackets] indicate matter deleted from existing law.
Underlining indicates amendments to bill.
Strike out indicates matter stricken from the bill by amendment or deleted from the law by
amendment.
*hb1276*

HOUSE BILL 1276
C8 6lr1762
CF SB 816
By: Delegates Wolek, Amprey, and Wells
Introduced and read first time: February 12, 2026
Assigned to: Economic Matters
Committee Report: Favorable with amendments
House action: Adopted
Read second time: March 6, 2026

CHAPTER ______

AN ACT concerning 1

West North Avenue Development Authority – Neighborhood Social Connection 2
and Development Program – Establishment 3
(WNADA Neighborhood Social Connection and Development Act) 4

FOR the purpose of establishing the Neighborhood Social Connection and Development 5
Program within the West North Avenue Development Authority to provide technical 6
support and grants to certain organizations to implement programs that foster social 7
connections and activities in a certain area; authorizing the West North Avenue 8
Development Authority, in conjunction with the Department of Housing and 9
Community Development, to use funds from the Continuing the CORE Partnership 10
Fund to assist with the removal of certain blighted property within a certain area; 11
and generally relating to the Neighborhood Social Connection and Development 12
Program in the West North Avenue Development Authority. 13

BY repealing and reenacting, without amendments, 14
Article – Economic Development 15
Section 12–701 16
Annotated Code of Maryland 17
(2024 Replacement Volume and 2025 Supplement) 18

BY adding to 19
Article – Economic Development 20
Section 12–715 21
Annotated Code of Maryland 22
(2024 Replacement Volume and 2025 Supplement) 23
2 HOUSE BILL 1276

BY repealing and reenacting, without amendments, 1
Article – Housing and Community Development 2
Section 4–511(a) and (b) 3
Annotated Code of Maryland 4
(2019 Replacement Volume and 2025 Supplement) 5

BY repealing and reenacting, with amendments, 6
Article – Housing and Community Development 7
Section 4–511(c) 8
Annotated Code of Maryland 9
(2019 Replacement Volume and 2025 Supplement) 10

SECTION 1. BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF MARYLAND, 11
That the Laws of Maryland read as follows: 12

Article – Economic Development 13

12–701. 14

(a) In this subtitle the following words have the meanings indicated. 15

(b) “Authority” means the West North Avenue Development Authority. 16

(c) “Board” means the Board of Directors of the Authority. 17

(d) “Buffer zone” means the area within 250 yards of the target area. 18

(e) “Target area” means the portion of West North Avenue in Baltimore City 19
between the 600 block and the 3200 block, inclusive. 20

(f) “West North Avenue Corridor” includes the geographic area consisting of the 21
target area and the buffer zone. 22

12–715. 23

(A) IN THIS SECTION , “PROGRAM” MEANS THE NEIGHBORHOOD SOCIAL 24
CONNECTION AND DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM. 25

(B) THERE IS A NEIGHBORHOOD SOCIAL CONNECTION AND DEVELOPMENT 26
PROGRAM IN THE AUTHORITY. 27

(C) THE PURPOSE OF THE PROGRAM IS TO FOSTER SOCIAL CONNECTIONS 28
TO SUPPORT NEIGHBORH OOD DEVELOPMENT WITH IN THE WEST NORTH AVENUE 29
CORRIDOR BY: 30

HOUSE BILL 1276 3

(1) PROVIDING TECHNICAL SUPPORT TO PARTICIPA TING 1
ORGANIZATIONS, INCLUDING COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATIONS , 2
NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIA TIONS, VOLUNTEER GROUPS , AND NONPROFIT 3
ORGANIZATIONS; AND 4

(2) AWARDING GRANTS TO I MPLEMENT PROGRAMS TH AT FOSTER 5
SOCIAL CONNECTIONS A ND ACTIVITIES TAILOR ED TO SUPPORT NEIGHB ORHOOD 6
DEVELOPMENT. 7

(D) (1) THE AUTHORITY SHALL AWARD GRA NTS TO IMPLEMENT THE 8
PROGRAM. 9

(2) THE AUTHORITY MAY ANNUALLY SET ASIDE EXISTING FUNDS OF 10
NOT MORE THAN $500,000 $150,000 FOR THE PURPOSE OF A WARDING GRANTS 11
UNDER THE PROGRAM. 12

(3) THE AUTHORITY MAY AWARD A GRANT UNDER THIS SEC TION 13
ONLY FOR: 14

(I) SOCIAL GATHERINGS , INCLUDING BLOCK PART IES, 15
CULTURAL FESTIVALS , PARADES, SPEAKER SERIES , AND SERVICE OR 16
RECREATIONAL EVENTS; 17

(II) OUTREACH INITIATIVES , INCLUDING NEIGHBORHO OD 18
NEWSLETTERS, COMMUNITY BULLETINS , OR DIGITAL CONTENT , TO RA ISE 19
AWARENESS OF SOCIAL EVENTS AND CONNECT R ESIDENTS WITH AVAILA BLE 20
RESOURCES AND SERVICES; 21

(III) STIPENDS TO COMPENSA TE VOLUNTEERS FOR TH E TIME 22
USED TO ORGANIZE PRO JECTS, REFRESHMENTS AT PROGRAM DESIGNATED 23
EVENTS, RENTAL AND EVENT SPACES, AND MATERIALS FOR PROGRAM EVENTS; 24

(IV) OPERATING SUPPORT FO R PARTICIPATING 25
ORGANIZATIONS; 26

(V) SOCIAL CONNECTION PROJECTS TO CREATE AND MAINTAIN 27
GREEN SPACES OR OTHER COMMUNITY GATHERING SPACES; 28

(VI) RESOURCES FOR TRAINI NG AND HIRING COMMUN ITY 29
ORGANIZERS; AND 30

(VII) RESOURCES FOR GRANT APPLICATION EFFORTS. 31

4 HOUSE BILL 1276

(E) PARTICIPATING ORGANIZ ATIONS SHALL COLLABO RATE WITH 1
RESIDENTS OF THE WEST NORTH AVENUE CORRIDOR IN THE PLANN ING AND 2
IMPLEMENTATION OF EV ENTS AND PROJECTS TO ENSURE THAT ACTIVITI ES 3
REFLECT NEIGHBORHOOD PRIORITIES AND, TO THE EXTENT PRACTI CABLE, THAT 4
EVENTS AND ACTIVITIES ARE LED BY RESIDENTS. 5

(F) ON OR BEFORE JULY 1, 2029, THE AUTHORITY SHALL COMPI LE 6
EVALUATIONS AND OUTC OMES OF PROGRAMS TO DEVELOP A TEMPLATE F OR 7
NEIGHBORHOOD BUILDING AND PROVIDE SCALING RECOMMENDATIONS TO SIMILAR 8
ORGANIZATIONS IN THE STATE AND ACROSS THE UNITED STATES. 9

(G) ON OR BEFORE DECEMBER 1, 2027, AND EACH DECEMBER 1 10
THEREAFTER, THE AUTHORITY SHALL REPOR T TO THE GOVERNOR AND , IN 11
ACCORDANCE WITH § 2–1257 OF THE STATE GOVERNMENT ARTICLE, THE GENERAL 12
ASSEMBLY ON ITS COMPREHENSIVE GRANT–AWARDING ACTIVITIES. 13

Article – Housing and Community Development 14

4–511. 15

(a) In this section, “Fund” means the Continuing the CORE Partnership Fund. 16

(b) There is a Continuing the CORE Partnership Fund. 17

(c) The purpose of the Fund is to assist the Department, in conjunction with the 18
Maryland Stadium Authority , THE WEST NORTH AVENUE DEVELOPMENT 19
AUTHORITY, and Baltimore City, in expeditiously removing blighted property within 20
Baltimore City. 21

SECTION 2. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That this Act shall take effect 22
October 1, 2026. It shall remain effective until the taking effect of the termination provision 23
specified in Section 3 of Chapters 215 and 216 of the Acts of the General Assembly of 2025. 24
If that termination provision takes effect, this Act, with no further action required by the 25
General Assembly, shall be abrogated and of no further force and effect. This Act may not 26
be interpreted to have any effect on that termination provision. 27