Baltimore Office of Sustainability, Fiscally Sponsored by Civic Works, Inc.
$65,000 / 2020 / Community Development
The Baltimore Food Policy Initiative within the Baltimore Office of Sustainability will provide $65,000 in mini-grants to grassroots community organizations who are working hard and quickly to fill gaps in Baltimore’s larger emergency food-distribution system as the COVID-19 crisis escalates. Funds will be used for food, protective equipment for volunteers and nonprofit employees, transportation and fuel costs to supply food to those who are homebound, elderly, immuno-compromised, and living in poverty, most of whom are unable to access distribution centers, have lost their local pantry program due to COVID closure, or may have a gap without food while, for example, waiting for their Meals on Wheels registration to be processed or for SNAP benefits to be approved.
Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts
$20,000 / 2020 / Arts
Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts is the fiscal host for the Baltimore Artist Emergency Relief Fund, a dedicated fund established for one time grants of $500 to Baltimore City resident artists over the age of 18 of any discipline and creative professionals who’ve lost income due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Many artists rely on public events to sell/perform their art, and suddenly lost their income due to social distancing requirements. An advisory committee reviewed and approved applications and framework based on a clear selection criteria. This grant provided support for direct grants to local artists.
Baltimore Community Rowing
$25,000 / 2020 / Health and Human Services
Reach High Baltimore, a project of Baltimore Community Rowing, was founded in 2011 to bring the sport of rowing to Baltimore City middle and high school students. The program provides programming year-round and serves about 125 students a year. This grant supports the program’s efforts to increase enrollment from the neighborhoods closest to the Baltimore Rowing Center, by funding a second bus route, which will provide transportation to students living in Cherry Hill and Westport.
Advocates for Children and Youth
$50,000 / 2020 / Health and Human Services
Advocates for Children and Youth (ACY) is an independent organization dedicated to promoting the interests of children and families in Maryland through research, policy development, community outreach, media relations, and government relations. ACY is one of the leading champions of policies in Maryland that advance the interests of children across a broad range of issues, including education, child welfare, juvenile justice, and health care. This grant supports ACY’s child welfare program, which focuses on the needs of foster and homeless youth in Maryland.
The Work First Foundation
$200,000 / 2020 / Workforce Development
With funding from the Abell Foundation, in 2009, America Works (through its nonprofit Work First Foundation) launched the Baltimore Ex-Offender Reentry Employment Program. The program provides a two-week-long job-readiness workshop for cohorts of six to seven ex-offenders. The program targets ex-offenders under 40 years of age, and those who have been recently released from prison or jail. To date,1,318 ex-offenders have graduated from the two-week training course, with 804 being placed into jobs (a 61% job placement rate). Participants earned an average of $9.39 at placement, with 65 percent remaining employed for six months or more. Since June 2017, the Baltimore City court system has been referring low-income individuals to the program as they await trial, rather than jailing them because they cannot afford to pay bail. To date, 305 pretrial defendants have enrolled into the program. Of those, 227 have gone to trial, with 78 percent experiencing a positive outcome.
