Rails-to-Trails Conservancy
$60,000 / 2021 / Community Development
Rails-to-Trails Conservancy (RTC) is the nation’s largest trails and active transportation organization, dedicated to connecting people and places by trail, many from former rail lines. RTC is leading community partners, anchor institutions, and Baltimore City government in the planning and implementation of the 35-mile Baltimore Greenway Trails Network loop, which was formally adopted by the Planning Commission as part of the City’s Green Network Plan in 2018. The Greenway encompasses Baltimore’s downtown area and, when finished, will link more than 75 neighborhoods. This grant will support staff costs and efforts to develop design standards and guidelines for the interconnected parks and trails of the Baltimore Greenway, implement a trail count program, and implement an equitable development planning process now to ensure residents’ needs remain a priority.
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PREPARE Prepare for Parole and Reentry, Fiscally Sponsored by Fusion Partnerships, Inc.
$100,100 / 2021 / Criminal Justice and Addiction
PREPARE, formerly the Second Chance for Women (SCW), assists inmates in the Maryland Correctional Institution for Women (MCIW) to prepare for parole hearings. Abell is supporting a full-time position to assist PREPARE to expand its efforts to serve more people in the prison system, including men. As part of this expansion, volunteers will be trained to work directly with individuals on their parole packets and reentry planning.
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POP Inc.
$12,650 / 2021 / Education
The Play On Purpose Freedom School program serves 200 students for six weeks during the summer and is open to students citywide. The Freedom Schools program provides a research-based, multicultural curriculum that emphasizes high-quality literacy and character-building activities, parent/family involvement, civic engagement and social action, intergenerational servant leadership development, sports, and fitness.
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Patterson Park Audubon Center
$40,000 / 2021 / Community Development
Patterson Park Audubon Center leads hands-on activities that connect a multicultural community with nature in an urban setting. It empowers neighbors through action projects to enhance bird habitat and improve quality of life in Baltimore. Bird-Friendly Baltimore is PPAC’s effort to increase bird-friendly infrastructure in Baltimore. It will create bird-friendly buildings and community-based gardens. Up to 1 million migrating birds die each year due to collisions with buildings, especially in dense cities like Baltimore. PPAC’s bird-friendly buildings activities will include: connecting with municipal leaders to explore policy opportunities; establishing relationships with downtown building managers to reduce reflectivity of surfaces, up-lighting, and unnecessary use of lights at night, particularly during migration. PPAC will also work with partners in targeted neighborhoods to explore their interest in bird and butterfly garden development. Two community-centered, bird-friendly gardens will be designed, facilitated, and planted. This grant will support staff costs for the launch of the Bird-Friendly Baltimore initiative.
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Neighborhood Trust Financial Partners
$50,000 / 2021 / Community Development
Neighborhood Trust Financial Partners is a financial empowerment and coaching provider that serves low-income workers. Its in-house team of financial coaches specializes in the challenges facing workers today: volatile income, tight cash flow, lack of emergency savings, and burdensome debt. They help clients prioritize savings, take control of their debt, and create a road map to achieving their financial goals. This grant will support staff expenses to assist up to 200 Baltimore individuals affiliated with five Baltimore-based partner organizations.
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