University System of Maryland Foundation
$34,910 / 2019 / Education
The major thrust of the three-year B-Power initiative is to coordinate, enhance and expand dual enrollment options offered jointly to Baltimore City Schools by University of Baltimore, Coppin, Morgan and Baltimore City High Schools with a goal to serve 525 high school students annually by 2021. In the next 18 months, UB will collaborate with BCCC specifically to improve the access of students to credit coursework in math, adopt UB’s successful 2 semester college readiness course eliminating ACCUPLACER, and improve the quality of instruction. In addition to the already-funded 230 UB dual enrollment seats for 2019-2020, this project will add 60 seats each semester at three new high schools. The grant will also develop a full menu of dual enrollment options at the 4 higher ed institutions by the 2020-2021 school year.
The Gil Sandler Fund, Inc.
$150,000 / 2019 / Education
Baltimore City College’s Speech and Debate extracurricular program traces its beginnings to 1878. Revitalized in 1997 by Gil Sandler and Abell Foundation funding, The Speech and Debate team has grown into a regional and national powerhouse for preparing up to 70 students annually for competitive colleges, This grant provides a $100,000 contribution to the Speech and Debate endowment fund in honor of the passing of Gilbert Sandler, and two years of operating funding at $25,000 per year.
Baltimore’s Promsie
$75,000 / 2019 / Education
Launched by a diverse group of civic leaders in 2014, Baltimore’s Promise is a collaboration to create a cradle to career pipeline to success for youth in Baltimore City by coordinating strategy, identifying quality programs, establishing shared outcomes, building public will, and advancing good policy. In Year 5, the work will focus on the implementation of the Grads2Careers occupational training scholarships for 2018/2019 graduates from Baltimore City Public Schools and the development of an Integrated Data System.
Vehicles for Change, Inc.
$125,000 / 2019 / Workforce Development
Since 1999, the Abell Foundation has supported Vehicles for Change (VFC) in making low-cost cars available to low-income job seekers in Baltimore City. In 2015, with funding from Abell, VFC launched an automotive technician repair program. VFC hires men and women who have been recently released from prison or who have been granted work release (usually in small cohorts of seven to eight people). All program applicants have successfully completed the 600-hour Automotive Service Excellence (ASE) Auto Maintenance and Light Repair training program while incarcerated. At VFC, they receive three to five months of paid work experience, earning $9 an hour. The on-the-job experience is designed to build the trainees’ resumes and overcome any reservations that employers have about hiring returning citizens. All trainees must pass at least four ASE certification tests. The program is working: of the 114 trainees who enrolled since the beginning of the program, only four have not completed because they were on work release and had to return to prison. All of the 110 graduates have been placed into employment, with an average starting hourly wage of $16 per hour. Funding from Abell will support the training and job placement of 12 Baltimore residents.
South Baltimore Partnership
$20,000 / 2019 / Community Development
Litter and debris in streets, alleys and stormdrains is a huge problem for many Baltimore neighborhoods and the waste degrades downstream waterways. The trash is polluting and demoralizing for residents, reducing the desirability of the neighborhood and discouraging investment. South Baltimore Partnership’s has conceived of and executed a homegrown program that extends the well-received street cleaning work of summer YouthWorkers throughout the year, employs community members part-time, and measures its progress.
