Baltimore Kids Chess League, Inc.
$85,000 / 2019 / Education
Sponsored by the Abell Foundation and Baltimore City Public Schools since 2004, Baltimore Kids Chess offers an academic extracurricular program that serves more than 750 children from kindergarten to 12th grade in 40 schools. Teams practice weekly under the auspices of trained chess coaches and compete in novice, local, state and national chess tournaments sponsored by the United States Chess Federation. Baltimore City chess players have gained acclaim for City Schools as a powerhouse; three Kids Chess League teams are expected to advance to the 2020 USCF Nationals.
Baltimore Green Space
$55,000 / 2019 / Community Development
Baltimore Green Space (BGS) is Baltimore’s environmental land trust. It promotes vibrant neighborhoods and a healthy environment through land preservation, research, and community advocacy. This grant provides support for BGS staff efforts to coordinate forest care education to at least 300 Baltimore City residents through workshops and continue to study the value of forest patches for storm water management, heat island effects, wildlife, and climate resilience.
ACLU Foundation of Maryland, Inc.
$80,000 / 2019 / Education
In spring 2020, the Maryland Legislature will tackle the aggressive “Blueprint” educational policy and school funding formula recommendations from The Kirwan Commission. This session promises to be a once in a generation opportunity to reapply an equitable statewide educational funding formula, particularly for those children living in concentrated poverty. The ACLU has been critical to maintaining educational funding over the last three decades, and will use its core strategies of advocating to policy-makers and school systems, informing and engaging parents, students and community groups, and for the first time in over a decade, litigating. The goals are to pass a new state funding formula with additional dollars for schools with high concentrated poverty, and to pass the $2.2 billion bill for School Construction.
Beloved Community Services Corporation
$42,000 / 2019 / Community Development
Beloved Community Services Corporation, led by Rev. Alvin C. Hathaway, aims to provide the tools necessary to bridge the knowledge, economic, educational, digital and political gaps that cause many of the social issues that plague Baltimore. This grant is in support of conducting research on Baltimore City residents’ attitudes on public safety initiatives, with the goal of improving safety and security in Baltimore City.
WYPR – Your Public Radio
$12,000 / 2019 / Environment
Baltimore and Maryland face critically important and increasingly difficult environmental issues and public health challenges while news organization coverage has shrunk dramatically over the last decade. WYPR, Baltimore’s local radio station, offers “The Environment in Focus,” a weekly program providing listeners with engaging and informative stories about the environment and environmental issues from air pollution, sea level rise, and endangered species to relevant federal rulings, state policy analysis and city actions. This grant pays the full production costs of the weekly radio program.
