In Baltimore, a master carpenter rebuilds a block of abandoned row houses into a community of Black women homeowners. But rising tensions in the group and a suspicious fire threaten to burn her dream down.
Master carpenter Shelley Halstead trains a group of young, Black women in carpentry, electrical, and plumbing skills as they rehab vacant and abandoned houses in a redlined neighborhood in Baltimore. If they complete the program, the women apprentices will be eligible to buy the houses. The mission is to build generational wealth and resilience by transforming a distressed block on Etting Street into a community of Black women homeowners. But when tensions arise in the group and a suspicious fire breaks out, Shelley questions her vision of community.
Amy Scott is an independent documentary filmmaker and a senior correspondent and host with Marketplace, the public radio business and economics show. Her 2015 documentary Oyler: One School, One Year, about a Cincinnati school fighting to break the cycle of poverty in its Urban-Appalachian neighborhood, has screened at film festivals internationally and was distributed by American Public Television in 2016. In 2018 she served as an envoy with the American Film Showcase, the U.S. film diplomacy program. Amy is the host of the climate solutions podcast "How We Survive," named one of the Best Podcasts of 2022 by The Economist and winner of a SABEW “Best in Business” podcast award. Her reporting has earned several national honors, including a 2013 Gracie Award and Edward R. Murrow Awards in 2025 and 2012. She is a 2001 graduate of the documentary film program at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism. After 15 years in Baltimore, she recently returned to her home state of Colorado, living in Denver.
World Premiere - DOC NYC 2025
West Coast Premiere - Santa Barbara International Film Festival 2026
Editor - Patrick Wright
Composer - Yasmin Williams
Executive Producer - Juleyka Lantigua
