Started by residents to save Baltimore neighborhoods

The South East Community Organization (SECO) was born out of the freeway revolts of the 1960s and 70s, when neighbors banded together to stop the planned construction of Interstate 70 through Southeast Baltimore, particularly through historic Fells Point.

Over time, this protest movement evolved into a federation of more than 70 neighborhood organizations that focused on community organizing in order to reverse a longstanding pattern of disinvestment and neglect.

In 1974, SECO conducted a planning study to create an organization that could amplify and sustain this progress on a community-wide basis. The result of this planning effort was Southeast Development, Inc. whose work continues today as the Southeast CDC.