Civic Works, Inc.
$200,000 / 2019 / Community Development
Civic Works’ Retrofit Baltimore program offers weatherization, home energy efficiency and health & safety improvements to low and moderate income households. Utilizing competitive Maryland Energy Administration funding and BGE utility rebates, the program expects to complete 100 energy audits, energy efficient weatherization improvements in 50 homes, and bedbug remediation in 50 homes and screen all households for property tax credits, water bill discounts and federal nutrition benefits. The grant covers expenses for staff to promote the program, screen applicants for benefits, establish scopes of work, manage contract implementation, and ensure quality control.
Chesapeake Shakespeare Company
$50,000 / 2019 / Arts
Chesapeake Shakespeare brings theatre to Baltimore City with productions of Shakespeare and other plays of classic stature. At the end of its 16th season, CSC served more than 32,000 student and patrons. This grant provides support for costs associated with the construction of an elevated and closed pedestrian bridge that would connect the CSC Theater to educational and administrative space in a nearby building.
Chesapeake Climate Action Network
$40,000 / 2019 / Environment
Chesapeake Climate Action Network will expand its Maryland Healthy Communities Campaign to advocate for waste disposale alternatives and solutions in Baltimore City, reduction in emissions from landfills, and eliminate subsidies for incineration in Maryland. The goals are to improve recycling and composting, reduce litter and trash pollution in streets and waterways, and reduce pollution generated by incinerators and landfills.
Carnegie Institution for Science
$30,000 / 2019 / Education
BioEYES is a week-long, hands-on biology unit delivered by Carnegie science outreach educators (with co-teaching from City classroom teachers), using live fish as subjects. The program meets the Common Core science standards, and it demonstrates—and prepares teachers for—a student-centered approach to science instruction. BioEYES allows Baltimore City students and teachers access to the world of high caliber, Nobel Prize-level science. In a recent study (Shuda, Butler, Farber, and Vary, 2015), the authors found significant gains in students’ knowledge and attitudes towards science as a result of BioEYES.
It is expected that 3,400 8th grade students (approximately 60% of 8th grade students) will experience BioEYES in the 2019/20 school year, with the remaining teachers trained next summer.
B’More Clubhouse, Inc.
$30,000 / 2019 / Health and Human Services
B’More Clubhouse, founded in 2009, is a community in mid-town where adults living with mental illness receive supportive services. Accredited by Clubhouse International, the organization benefits from the strengths of a national and international network of 292 accredited Clubhouses in 34 countries. B’More Clubhouse has an active membership of 120 and an average of 40 members in attendance on any given day. Services include employment assistance, housing access, and connections to community resources. This grant helped support the partial salary of the program’s social worker/program director.
