Czech parish to one that is multicultural and multiracial, first as many Poles and Lithuanians moved into the neighborhood, and then as the neighborhood shifted to having an African American majority. The neighborhood has suffered from extensive urban decay and housing abandonment due to poverty and crime, as well as the after-effects of the Baltimore riot of 1968, and now has a largely poverty-class and working-class African-American majority. The neighborhood was one of the hardest hit in Baltimore, as the white-working class and middle-class African-American tax base left and the area was effected by epidemics of heroin, crack cocaine, and HIV, along with an intensification of gang activity fueled by the drug trade. The predatory practices of lenders, landlords, and property flippers have also contributed to the spiraling cycle of decline and disinvestment. By 2000, Middle East was the second poorest neighborhood in Baltimore, with a median household income of $14,900, less than half the city’s median. Less than half of all adults were employed in the labor force and over a third of households had poverty-level incomes. Crime and domestic violence rates were double those of the city as a whole, and the incidence of lead poisoning and child abuse were among the highest in Baltimore. Middle East is the site of ongoing and extensive gentrification and many buildings have been leveled to make way for the expansion of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. In 2002, the East Baltimore Development Initiative (EBDI) was founded, becoming one of the most aggressive and ambitious initiates for urban redevelopment in recent American history. There have been many delays and controversies over the past 17 years, as Johns Hopkins has attempted to transform the neighborhood into a biotech hub amid accusations of gentrification. 740 families have been displaced and relocated, making way for a new public school, planned amenities including shops, and a public park, in an attempt to attract top scientists and entrepreneurs from around the world and transform the urban landscape from a working-class African-American neighborhood into one that is mixed-income and mixed-race. These effects have been criticized as racist and classist and have been referred to as a "big institution pushing out a vulnerable community for its benefit" by Lawrence Brown, a critical urbanist at Morgan State University. Marisela Gomez, an activist against gentrification, has claimed that black, brown, and low-income residents are being unfairly targeted. Location Middle East