Coppin Heights, Baltimore

Coppin Heights/Ash-Co-East is a predominately African-American working-class neighborhood in West Baltimore, Maryland. It is located south of North Avenue (Rt. 40), west of N Smallwood Street, east of N Dukeland Street, and approximately north of the railroad tracks. The community was originally called "Ash Co. East" (Ash-Co-East). In 1989, it was renamed Coppin Heights. The name "Coppin" is from Fanny Jackson Coppin a pioneering black educator. It is unknown what "Ash Co. East" means.

Within its boundaries are Carver Vocational-Technical High School and Wilbur H. Waters Park. In 2008, Coppin State University acquired 210 properties in Coppin Heights south of Rt. 40. This expansion, called "South Campus", has buildings for health care and technology instruction. A covered walkway connects with the main campus across Rt. 40 to the north, in Mondawmin.

Coppin Heights and surrounding communities share many of the same historical problems including vacant properties, low-income families, high unemployment and crime. Coppin Heights Community Development Corporation (CHCDC) is a non-profit that was established to make affordable housing available in Coppin Heights and the surrounding communities.

During the post-WWII period, the population of Coppin Heights and surrounding neighborhoods of West Baltimore began a rapid transition from nearly exclusively European American in 1949 to become predominantly African American by the late 1950s. This transition offered many African American households in Baltimore their first opportunity for home ownership.