StreetWell: From West Baltimore Roots to a National Cooperative Backbone
BY STEPHANIE GARCIA
Appalachian Field Services did not set out to work in Baltimore’s most disinvested neighborhoods. In its early years, that is simply where the work was. As a foreclosure servicing contractor, AFS operated deep in redlined communities because that’s where banks, government-sponsored enterprises, and investors were offloading distressed properties. Over time, a pattern became clear. These institutions consistently underpaid contractors, ignored local expertise, and extracted value without reinvesting in the people who lived there. AFS was witnessing, firsthand, how racial injustice and economic extraction shaped entire neighborhoods.
As the company grew, it ran into another challenge familiar to many cooperatives. Off-the-shelf bookkeeping and management software didn’t reflect the realities of worker ownership, construction workflows, or impact tracking. The tools were expensive, rigid, and poorly suited to cooperative enterprises. So AFS built its own systems—starting with bookkeeping, then expanding into construction project management, property management, cooperative administration, finance, and impact dashboards.
What began as an internal solution revealed a broader opportunity. The systems AFS built—and the experience behind them—could serve other cooperatives rebuilding distressed housing. As the team joined national networks and spoke at conferences, similar stories surfaced across the Rust Belt and Appalachia. Many cities shared the same conditions: a shortage of affordable housing, homes suitable for rehabilitation, neighborhoods rich in history and culture, access to transit and amenities, and a local workforce ready for dignified work, skills, and ownership.
In cities like Detroit, Pittsburgh, Wheeling, and Meadville, AFS saw not just opportunity but alignment. These were places facing similar challenges and poised for a different approach. The vision that emerged was a federated network of Impact Real Estate Portfolios, or IREPs—locally rooted, worker-owned enterprises connected through shared services and collective infrastructure.
At the core of the IREP model is a simple principle: housing should build wealth for the people who create it and the people who live in it. Each IREP combines worker-owned construction with tenant-centered housing, develops and manages its own properties, hires and trains locally, and builds shared equity over time. The focus is long-term neighborhood stability, not short-term extraction.
StreetWell is taking shape as the shared-services cooperative that supports this growing network. It provides the infrastructure that allows local IREPs to thrive—governance tools, financial systems, technology platforms, and narrative strategy—while preserving local ownership and decision-making. What began in West Baltimore is now designed to scale without losing its values.
Within each IREP, tenants can build equity through a transparent rent-to-equity model. Residents earn credits not only by paying rent on time, but by caring for their homes, participating in neighborhood efforts, and engaging in cooperative education. Credits vest over time and can be redeemed at milestones or upon move-out, creating a realistic path to asset-building. Resident councils also play an active role in shaping neighborhood priorities and can launch resident-led service cooperatives where public services fall short.
In Baltimore, this work is advancing through Rising Housing, WaterBottle Cooperative’s IREP. The team is increasing the pace of acquisitions and renovations, moving into multi-unit properties, and building community governance alongside physical redevelopment. At the same time, StreetWell is supporting partners in other cities, helping small cohorts of workers form cooperatives and rehabilitate their first homes. As these groups gain experience, they grow into neighborhood-based real estate cooperatives.
Partners like the Keystone Development Center have been instrumental, particularly in Western Pennsylvania. Through introductions, site visits, and learning sessions, Keystone has helped move conversations into action. As a result, StreetWell is now in active discussions with organizers, funders, and workers in Pittsburgh, Meadville, and Wheeling, with early dialogue underway in Detroit.
Unlike AFS’s early years, these emerging cooperatives don’t have to navigate the process alone. StreetWell offers shared systems, lived experience, and collective support. As IREPs connect through this network, tools, capital, and knowledge circulate across cities. Plans are underway for regional and national gatherings where worker-owners, tenants, and community leaders can learn from one another and shape the movement together.
As a cooperative hub, StreetWell supports construction management, real estate development, fundraising, governance, workforce training, and storytelling. Its digital platform integrates accounting, ownership tracking, construction management, property oversight, and impact reporting—designed to improve as the network grows. Legal frameworks, capital strategies, and bilingual tools ensure accessibility and replication across communities.
Looking ahead to 2026, StreetWell is preparing for its next phase of growth. In partnership with the Keystone Development Center, it is building capacity to support expansion in Baltimore and seed new IREPs in cities like Pittsburgh, Meadville, Wheeling, and Detroit. With catalytic funding already secured, StreetWell is building on real momentum. Earned revenue from shared services and early partnerships is already flowing, creating a circular economy that strengthens the entire network.
This is the future StreetWell is building: a connected system of locally grounded, worker- and resident-owned neighborhood rebuilding enterprises. Rooted in place, linked through cooperation, and supported by shared infrastructure, it is a model designed to endure—and to travel.
