When Arkia Wade moved to Dundalk 12 years ago, she was eager to become involved in her local community. Arkia was drawn to the people and community spirit of Turner Station, a historically Black community nestled along Bear Creek, where her grandfather, Dr. William C. Wade, was a physician for over 40 years. Turner Station is one of the few remaining intact African American communities established in Baltimore County following the Civil War and during segregation.
Arkia started attending meetings held by the Turner Station Conservation Teams, Inc. (TSCT), a local nonprofit community organization committed to honoring Turner Station’s past and bright future through a holistic approach to community beautification, social support, and housing advocacy, with a strong emphasis on environmental justice. Through her work as a Girl Scout leader and volunteer leader in the Baltimore area, Arkia built relationships with long-time Turner Station community pillars, in particular entrepreneurial women, who shared her love for the neighborhood.
“Even though I didn’t grow up there,” says Arkia, “I wanted to help the community and people.”
Over the years, Arkia became more involved in Turner Station, leading scouts, organizing community events, serving as secretary of the Henrietta Lacks Legacy Group, and more recently, as treasurer for Turner Station Conservation Teams. Her longtime volunteer work with the Girls Scouts often intersects with TSCT’s work and mission, as was the case with the Witness Trees Project, a partnership between the Conversation Teams and The Nature Conservancy.
Arkia says of the Witness Trees Project, “It was important to me that the scouts were involved and out there to learn about the environment firsthand here in their own community.”
NeighborSpace and TSCT have partnered on projects like the installation of Chestnut Street Park and, beginning this past year, on outreach efforts for the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation funded Community Climate Resilience Project, for which Arkia is a member of the Core Team.
Arkia was part of Chestnut Street Park from its inception, noting “what a joy it has been to see where it started and how the space has come to fruition to where it is now. It is a testament to the success of people coming together on a common goal to see it through.”
She remembers Chestnut in the beginning when it was “a wild jungle” that volunteers worked tirelessly during the pandemic to transform into a beautiful, usable space.
For Arkia, the pinnacle of the planning, sweat, hard work, and early morning work days required to make Chestnut Street Park a reality was the community cookout last September. “It was amazing to see how this small but mighty group got all of that work done to create this space for people to come out, play games, and socialize, young and old. It is now another green space where people can commune.”
As Chestnut Street Park was taking root, another seed was planted in the early days of the pandemic. Witnessing the impact of the pandemic on older residents in Turner Station, Arkia organized a small group of volunteers to support older adults suffering from isolation by making monthly phone calls and eventually providing in-home visits and transportation assistance for medical appointments.
Today, Arkia has turned this volunteer endeavor into a fully operational, grant-funded nonprofit called Neighborhood Companions, Inc., whose mission is to help older adults live a great life through companionship and transportation services. The organization’s works “to ensure that all older adults can live independently, and feel safe, valued, and loved.”
Arkia serves as the founder and CEO of Neighborhood Companions, a venture she took on full-time about one year ago. Of leaving her 23-year-long career in health care, Arkia says, “It was very scary, but also liberating”. Her resignation coincided with Juneteenth, 2023.
“I’m glad I took the leap of faith to do this work. It is very rewarding. I am very busy, but it is a good kind of busy – writing grants, making it happen, getting this organization off the ground.”
Neighborhood Companions is hosting its first volunteer training class next month. Arkia is grateful for the outpouring of financial, logistical, and volunteer support from neighbors and the wider community, including a recent article from the Maryland Department of Aging, highlighting Neighborhood Companion’s work.
Arkia’s success lies in the fact that she is no stranger to volunteering and public service. In addition to her work with TSCT, leading Girl Scouts, and running a nonprofit, Arkia is also President of the Baltimore County Arts Guild and Assistant Secretary for the East Baltimore City chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated-Psi Phi Omega Chapter. In honor of her extensive community service work, Arkia Wade was named the 2023 Baltimore County Woman of the Year.
For Arkia, it is important to instill a spirit of volunteerism when people are younger. Her advice for others looking to make an impact in their communities is that life is not always about money, noting that “other things outweigh money by a stretch”. She encourages new volunteers and community leaders to start small, to start “bite size” and go from there.
Arkia’s parents, who volunteered individually and as a family, have been her role models. Her mother, in particular, has been her “greatest inspiration.”
Arkia notes that her mother, who passed away four years ago, was “instrumental in creating a village for me. Growing up, I was surrounded by these amazing women who were entrepreneurs. I am doing what I do today because I saw them, the women who came before me, do it and be successful. It made me know that the path is possible.”