Baltimore Community Fellowships

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At age 27, Laurie Kendall learned to read.

With the help of a woman she loved, Kendall sat at her kitchen table and for three months struggled through the controversial book "Holy Blood, Holy Grail." Ten years later she had her doctorate in American studies, with a PhD certificate in women's studies from the University of Maryland, College Park.

In that story, it is easy to see the beginnings of Kendall's life's passion: Helping women overcome adversity and long odds.

Kendall will use her fellowship to help grow the programs she's already begun at the Spiral Dance Womyn's Center and Bookstore in Baltimore.

 "Most women are working outside the home, trying to raise children and keep a family together. Sometimes that means two or three jobs," she said. "We're just trying to really empower women to draw support from each other and learn to work collectively."

Early last year, Kendall and her partner purchased the center located in a spacious old rowhouse that once had been a brothel, and it quickly became a place by, of, and for women.

Every weekend since March 2007, women from Baltimore to D.C. have come to the center, wielding crowbars and sledgehammers. They've torn down all the walls, ripped out the plumbing and the wiring and have learned new skills rebuilding the place. "The whole shebang was all done by women," says Kendall.

The rehabbed building is now the hub for workshops about everything from financial planning to home improvement, GED study courses and job skills training. Home crafters sell their wares at the bookstore. A free store is stocked with donated items. A women's music festival was produced there, and both a women's wellness fair and an arts and crafts fair held there.

Kendall explains that women will learn the value of pooling resources and helping each other. A long-term goal is to do for other women what many did for the center.

"We want to collectively raise funds for women who have worked with us to help them buy their own homes in the neighborhood, which right now is pretty boarded-up," she said, adding that volunteers would likely help rehab the homes afterward. "It's collective work that pays off for the women."

The fellowship will enable Kendall to devote herself full-time to the center, which previously has been open only on weekends.

"We've had literally hundreds of women come to the center over the last 18 months," she said. "Some will come for one workshop; others call it their second home or their weekend home. Our goal is to help any woman who walks in the door, whether she needs her GED, a craft class, or just healing time with caring women."