Now, another installment in our Midday in the Neighborhood series, which we are producing in cooperation with our news partners at the Baltimore Banner.

Today, we meet a Baltimore native who has toured the world as one of the legendary Harlem Globetrotters, and who has returned to his hometown to give back in a substantial way.

Charles "Choo" Smith, who founded and heads a youth coaching enterprise called Choo Smith Youth Empowerment, is working on a project to build what he calls a “Communiversity” — an educational and athletic "life center" in the Cold Spring, Parklane and Edgecomb neighborhoods of Northwest Baltimore.

Choo Smith joins Tom in Studio A…

Also joining us in Studio A is our colleague Jasmine Vaughn Hall, who covers West Baltimore for the Baltimore Banner, and wrote a feature last month about Smith's Arise Baltimore project.

There are 278 named communities in the city of Baltimore, and from time to time we will talk about what’s going on in some of those communities in our series, Midday in the Neighborhood, which we're producing now in partnership with our colleagues at the Baltimore Banner.  If you’ve got an idea for featuring your community in the Banner and on Midday, let us know! Drop us an e mail at [email protected].

Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.