Disturbed by a school principal she and other parents of students found rude and autocratic, Edna Manns decided to organize a community meeting.

Trying to lead others was a leap for the unassuming woman. But she pulled it off.

Problems diminished at Lockerman-Bundy Elementary School in West Baltimore after Manns brought school board members and dozens of parents together. Although the principal was removed eventually, Manns says that wasn't her plan. She simply wanted to improve life for her son and other neighborhood children.

She still does.

Manns founded a neighborhood improvement group called Fayette Street Outreach Inc. in 1993 in the aftermath of the problems at Lockerman-Bundy, and she remains its first and only president. She recently achieved what may be her most high-profile accomplishment: obtaining a $100,000 federal commitment to building a new community center.

It will be built near West Fayette and Monroe streets, the infamous corner portrayed in an HBO television series.

"I'm trying to make people, especially the old people, feel secure in living here," said Manns, 52. "They've invested a lot of years here, a lot into their homes. They should be able to sit back and enjoy it."

Poor and working-class families live in the area, and it's not uncommon to see boarded-up rowhouses, open-air drug markets and alleyways littered with broken beer bottles, discarded candy wrappers and other trash.

Manns said the neighborhood hasn't adopted a name. Its most prominent thoroughfare is Fayette Street, and Bons Secours Hospital is its most notable business.

She works with police to try to rid her neighborhood of drugs. She was a member of the now-defunct Citywide Mission Coalition that was successful in prohibiting tobacco and alcohol from being advertised on billboards in Baltimore. She also secured funds from the governor's office to board up vacant garages on Vine Street, where drug dealers were active.

Manns gets excited when she talks about the center, which she hopes will open by the end of the summer. She envisions classrooms, a kitchen, a computer lab and a large conference room.

For the past three years, Fayette Street Outreach has sponsored a summer camp for kids. Manns said that once the center is built, she'll be able to do more for area residents - such as provide meals for the needy at Thanksgiving and donate Christmas toys to children.

Her longtime friend, Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, says the center can help turn around the neighborhood.

Cummings, who secured the $100,000 grant, has assigned an aide to assist Manns and other Fayette Street leaders in identifying resources. Students from the University of Maryland School of Law could help residents with small legal problems, for example. Other college students could help with reading programs, he said.

Cummings met Manns when he was a state delegate and she enlisted his help with Lockerman-Bundy. It was Cummings who in 1993 suggested to Manns that she consider organizing people in her community.

"First of all, I realized that Edna Manns was not a person that was going to just sit around and complain," Cummings said. "She wanted to do something about the problem, and she was willing to put in her blood, sweat and tears to get things accomplished. To me, that shows a lot of leadership in and of itself, and people believed in her. They believed in this woman who wanted to make changes in her community and refused to allow things to stay the same. She was willing to take a stand."

Manns, who was born in Emporia, Va., but has lived in Baltimore since age 3, acknowledges being hesitant about trying to lead others.

"That was new ground to me, to organize a community," Manns said. "I was a little concerned. I didn't know how the community was going to respond. I didn't want them to feel as though I was trying to push them into a situation they didn't want to be in, but I found out that this community was ready to try to better itself. That was about the time the drugs started coming into the neighborhood, and people didn't want that."

Manns doesn't have a commanding presence. Her desire to make things better and her ability to listen draws people to her.

Manns has learned that being a good community leader is like having a full-time job - but with no pay and few perks. The Fayette Street Outreach office is on the second floor of her three-story rowhouse on Pulaski Street.

A stuffed animal on her office wall bears a sign that reads: "Don't Yell At Me. I'm A Volunteer." There is also a certificate from Cummings' office that recognizes Manns' service to youth. One of her most prized possessions is a photo of her with actors Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee, taken in January 1994 after Manns received the Martin Luther King Jr. Award from Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Andre Lake, the secretary of Fayette Street Outreach, said Manns hardly ever sleeps.

Manns, who is divorced and has a teen-age son, works the night shift as a support associate in the cancer center at Johns Hopkins Hospital, a job she has held for more than 10 years.

"The first year I worked summer camp with her in 2000, she prepared the kids' lunches at home and brought them over," Lake said. "Every day, she'd get off work at 7 a.m., get home by 8, get here by 9, and go on field trips with the kids or whatever. Then she'd go to sleep and go to work again. She made me tired."

City Council members Kwame Osayaba Abayomi and Edward L. Reisinger said Manns is one of the reasons troubled neighborhoods manage to survive.

"She's probably one of the most accommodating people you'll ever meet," Abayomi said. "Whether she's working with the library, the food giveaway, the after-school program, a community cleanup or at a meeting at City Hall, she always represents not just herself or her views and needs but also the larger needs of Baltimore, and she represents them well."

Reisinger said that, when a new grocery store opened several years ago, she persuaded the owner to hire neighborhood residents.

"She's a very nice lady, and on the business end she's very pragmatic," he said.

Manns doesn't seek praise.

"Basically, all I want is to have a clean, healthy and safe community for the residents that live here."