Community Organizing

Building a better community, one neighborhood at a time.

Sr. Anna Mae Crane started her working life as a nurse before she entered, earning her Masters degree in Social Work from the University of Maryland. The focus of her studies was community organizing, work she had felt more and more drawn to since she first became a Sister of Bon Secours 30 years ago.

“As part of my coursework, I had the chance to do an internship at Echo House Multiservice Center in Baltimore, an outpatient substance abuse center were we worked with people of all ages dealing with substance abuse. I taught life skills like how to keep your home clean,” she remembers. While doing that work, she discovered that in addition to learning essential skills, the people needed a place where they could receive rehabilitation for addiction to drugs and alcohol. “That’s when I learned it’s important to go into the community and find out what the people really need if you want to solve problems and bring about change,” Sr. Anna Mae adds.

When she graduated with her Masters degree, she moved to Arizona, where she worked with local parishes and elected leaders in the region. Her goal was to help both government officials and community members to understand they had the power to act on their own behalf to change programs, policies, and systems that had an impact on the lives of families.

After completing her work there,Sister Anna Mae returned to the East Coast and for 10 years, she lived and ministered in Portsmouth, VA, running the Jeremiah Project in partnership with other community-based groups and local churches and synagogues, which she helped coordinate through her community organizing efforts. The after school program provided tutoring, mentoring, and a hot meal for over 40 at risk elementary school students.

“The Jeremiah Project developed through conversations with members of local churches. It was a real grass roots program, shaped by the needs of the families in our community,” she explains. “Through this collaborative effort, we took a holistic approach to solving social ills.

Most recently, Anna Mae has begun working as a Community Organizer with the Bon Secours of Maryland Foundation, where she will be meeting with residents from the Bon Secours apartments surrounding Bon Secours Hospital to organize Block Captains who will work with the Police Department to identify concerns within the community. “This is an opportunity to build relationships among the residents. In the future we will organize block festivals and health screenings, connecting residents to services provided at the Family Community Center,” comments Anna Mae. She also plans on working with other neighborhood organizations in the community.