You don't have to drive through Baltimore long to see a stretch of rundown buildings.
Munir Bahar sees more in East Baltimore because he can look past himself and his past.
“When I was 20 years old my last time coming home from jail I chose to start studying accounting,” said Bahar.
That lead to him starting his own tax business gave him an opportunity to start giving back.
“I started my own non-profit organization which I still run Cor-Health institute. I’ve just matriculated as an entrepreneur really focusing on my own personal and professional skills to build my own business but also to support my community.”
Chipped paint and stairways to closed off doors, an eyesore in the 1100 block of N. Collington Avenue. Where others see blight, Bahar envisions opportunity.
He’s turning it into a vocational school to teach young people between the ages of 17 and 25 the business of construction.
The tools of life he’s giving them will mean much more than any individual skill they pick up.
“Personal management, time management, relationship management,” said Bahar.
When it's built students will go through a ten-week program, and the best part, the cost of the program will only be their time and commitment.
"I want to help take young folks through a process of personal growth, but use construction as that vehicle for training them and giving a mechanism for applying those skills in real time.”
To guide people like 22-year-old Isiah Bosselait who grew up in Baltimore.
Isaiah Bosselait.
“I wanna do it the proper way where I don’t have to worry about looking over my shoulder and worry about Baltimore City cops or county cops or anything like that because it’s not worth it at the end of the day,” said Bosselait.
That vision can be seen a few blocks away at a karate dojo he built from the ground up.
“I didn’t have the answers for, I didn’t have the bank account for but god just took me through a process of humbling myself, " said Bahar.
To build a place to bring the best out of others.
"I knew if I didn’t have any money to hire someone at that time then I know I could get something done I would sacrifice the time.”
He's opening the dojo to the public next month. And now, he's starting to build the construction school with the most valuable tools coming from the neighborhood.
“I’d love for folks in the organization to see the organization being built itself. We will be bringing on some young people over the course of this summer to be a part of the process of even building this school and some of the other projects we have with our clients around the city."
Bahar won't charge any of his students at the dojo or construction school. He's holding a series of forums called 'Pathways to Construction' starting on Saturday.
