Initiative aims to bring breath of fresh air to disinvested communities

Corliss Billips has lived in Baltimore near Morgan State University for 48 years. It’s where she’s owned her home, raised three children, and recently retired as a fraud investigator for the city’s state’s attorney’s office. It’s also where she wanted to stay, but her house was making her sick. “It wasn’t healthy. I didn’t have cold water upstairs, and I had to regulate my hot water to take a shower by turning down the water heater,” she said. “The upstairs toilet didn’t work, and I smelled gas when I turned on the stove.”