Grants

Franciscan Center, Inc.

Founded in 1968, the Franciscan Center is an emergency outreach and drop-in center that serves individuals who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.  The center serves a hot, mid-day meal five days a week, dinners twice a week, counseling, case management, flexible financial assistance, and related services.  When the pandemic arrived in March 2020, the center significantly increased its meal production to meet the needs of the many Baltimore residents who had lost their jobs and needed assistance, shifted to an outdoor meal service, and partnered with over two dozen organizations to deliver food to people in need throughout the City. During 2020, the center served approximately 350,000 meals, nearly three times the previous annual average.  The center also increased its focus on conducting outreach to the city’s homeless population, and hired a community navigator to assist individuals living in homeless encampments to access housing.   This grant provides general support for the Franciscan Center’s operations.

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Drink at The Well – Hon’s Honey Social Enterprise

Drink at the Well operates a drop-in center that serves vulnerable women in the Curtis Bay community in South Baltimore.  The center offers case management, mentoring, financial literacy education, food, clothing and flexible financial assistance in a community that has few resources.  In 2018, Drink at the Well launched a social enterprise known as Hon’s Honey, which sells locally-sourced honey and honey-based skin care products and provides employment opportunities for women in The Well’s mentoring program.  This grant  provides operating support for Hon’s Honey.

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Maryland Alliance of Public Charter Schools

The Maryland Alliance of Public Charter Schools (MAPCS) is a non-partisan group that serves as a voice for charter school communities.  MAPCS helps to advocate for equitable and transparent conditions for public charter schools, offers support to new and existing public charter schools, and drives the discussion around innovative educational practices that lead to positive outcomes for students.  In Baltimore City, thirty charter schools serve 20% of the public school students or around 13,000 students annually.

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Civic Works, Inc.

The Center for Sustainable Careers (CSC) has built a multi-tiered green career “pathway out of poverty” by training and placing Baltimore City residents in the infrastructure remediation and residential energy-efficiency industries.  Across its programs, CSC has maintained an average job placement rate of 88%.  Since 2010, 80% of graduates have remained employed for at least one year.  Last year, 83% of program participants had a significant history of arrest and conviction and over 63% were formerly incarcerated. Over the next year, with funding from the Abell Foundation, CSC will train 100 Baltimore City residents for entry-level positions as well as 24 incumbent workers.

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Civic Works, Inc.

Civic Works’ Eviction Prevention Outreach program responds to the emerging need of Baltimore’s renters who are facing eviction after COVID-19 pandemic moratorium protections expire and are eligible for eviction prevention funding made available through federal stimulus dollars. Civic Works will deploy AmeriCorp workers for direct outreach to the highest risk households who are scheduled for court-ordered evictions. Civic Works is also currently partnering with the Baltimore City Health Department’s COVAX initiative to provide outreach to under-vaccinated populations. Because there is considerable overlap between communities experiencing low rates of vaccination and communities with residents at risk of eviction, the Eviction Prevention Outreach Initiative will work in coordination with the COVAX outreach activities within targeted zip codes. Trained Civic Works staff workers will assist renters to complete applications for eviction prevention funding to pay past-due rent and prevent evictions.

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