Baltimore County Agricultural Resource Center
$5,000 / 2009 / Education
For the rental of a diesel tractor to be used for the establishment of the Great Kids Farm Project run by Baltimore City public schools. The farm equipment will help transform the abandoned 33-acre former Bragg Nature Center into a functioning organic farm for an educational and vocational training setting linked to the Baltimore City Public School System’s Farm to Cafeteria initiative.
The Piney Woods School
$79,250 / 2009 / Education
To provide scholarships for nine male students from Baltimore City to attend a college preparatory boarding school for the 2009-2010school year, and for the salary of a retention counselor. The counselor provides a range of services: monitoring class attendance and participation, overseeing study hall and dormitory behavior, and acting as a liaison and advocate for students and their families.
ACLU Foundation of Maryland, Inc.
$75,000 / 2008 / Education
For continued support of the Baltimore City Education Reform Project. The purpose of the project is to represent the interests of disadvantaged students in Baltimore City, by ensuring increased operating and capital funding, and continued academic reform. ACLU will monitor the Baltimore City Public School Systems’ budget allocations to assess whether increased expenditures are translating into academic improvements.
CollegeBound Foundation, Inc .
$110,000 / 2008 / Education
Two-year funding to create a College Access Associate position to support the Baltimore City Public School System College Readiness/College Access Initiative, designed to increase the number of Baltimore City public school students enrolling and completing post-secondary education. This position will reinforce Baltimore City’s efforts to increase the scope of college- access advising services, assist in increasing the number of students taking college entrance examinations, and prepare a gap analysis of college-access providers and scholarships.
Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University
$35,000 / 2008 / Education
For continued support of the Music Teacher Mentoring Program to provide professional development for 77 first-year and returning music teachers. Two Peabody mentors offer enhancements to the music curriculum, age appropriate materials and lesson plans, strategies on effective classroom management skills, and new methodologies to encourage student engagement.