Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, Fiscally Sponsored by Baltimore Civic Fund
$100,000 / 2020 / Community Development
In response to COVID-19, the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs (MIMA) in partnership with the Baltimore Civic Fund as a fiscal sponsor, established the Emergency Relief for Immigrant Families program. Through community partners, the fund will respond to the urgent needs of undocumented immigrant families who are excluded from the CARES Act and other governmental benefits like Unemployment Insurance and SNAP. The Fund will support case management services to help households address needs and provide direct assistance to help stabilize household finances and build Baltimore as a welcoming community.
Marylanders to Prevent Gun Violence Education Fund
$40,000 / 2020 / Criminal Justice and Addiction
Marylanders to Prevent Gun Violence (MPGV) began in the mid-1980s. It educates the public, lawmakers, and criminal justice stakeholders about best practices to prevent gun violence. Funding from the Abell Foundation will support its efforts with its newly created Maryland Violence Prevention Coalition. Project goals include educating policymakers and civic leaders about violence prevention strategies, fostering cooperation between the public, nonprofit, and public sectors, breaking down silos, and encouraging problem-solving to improve services and public safety outcomes.
Maryland Citizens’ Health Initiative Education Fund, Inc.
$50,000 / 2020 / Health and Human Services
This grant supports two of Maryland Citizen’s Health Initiative’s current efforts: 1) The “Easy Enrollment” program, which uses individual tax returns to identify people who are eligible for, but not enrolled in, health insurance, and expand it to unemployment applications; 2) Advocate for the formation of and funding for Health Equity Resource Communities, which would be a state-funded grant program focused on reducing disparities in chronic health.
The Literacy Lab
$75,000 / 2020 / Education
The Literacy Lab employs a professionalized tutoring workforce that provides one-on-one, small group, and whole group literacy interventions to 690 students annually. A replication of the acclaimed Minnesota Reading Corps, Literacy Lab embeds rigorously trained reading tutors in PreK classrooms and provides 1:1 tutoring in schools to children in Kindergarten through third grade. Literacy Lab tutoring participants are between 1.5 to 5 times as likely to be on grade level than students who started at the same grade level and received no tutoring. Approximately 20% of participating students will achieve literacy benchmarks and end the school year on grade level.
Light of Truth Center, Inc.
$25,000 / 2020 / Criminal Justice and Addiction
The Light of Truth Center has been providing safe, supportive housing to women in recovery since 1999. Funding from the Abell Foundation will support increasing LOT’s clinical staff to align with COMAR requirements for its 3.1 residential program. This will allow LTC to bill for and provide substance abuse treatment in a residential setting.
