Past Grants

Institute of Notre Dame

To provide four-year Abell Foundation scholarships for two academically talented minority students from low-income families in the East Baltimore community. Each student is expected to maintain a GPA of 85 percent or better and participate in one extra-curricular program each year.

Baltimore Community Foundation, Inc.

Five-year funding toward an endowment for the Gilbert Sandler Fund for Speech and Debate and Mock Trial at Baltimore City College. The endowment will help ensure the viability of the program, which teaches students research, persuasion, and public speaking, and affords them the opportunity to compete in local and national tournaments.

Maryland Disability Law Center .

Toward support of the CityWide Special Education Advocacy Project for Baltimore City public school students with disabilities. The project brings together diverse voices to discuss strategies that hold promise of affecting the design of special education services, and impacting outcome in the areas of funding, discipline, high school completion, and transitional services.

Baltimore City Public School System/National Academic League

For support of the 2007-2008 National Academic League in 22 Baltimore City public middle schools. The league, engaging more than 550 students, provides extracurricular interscholastic programming in an atmosphere of competition traditionally associated with athletic events. The purpose of the program is to increase students’ awareness of local, national, and international current events, and strengthen background knowledge in all disciplines, particularly mathematics.

Food Studies Institute

For expansion of the Food for Life program at charter schools: Hampstead Hill Academy, The Stadium School, City Springs, and Collington Square. Designed to encourage the exposure to nutritional foods, the year-long hands-on food-based curriculum stresses the importance of acquiring knowledge about vitamins, whole grains, labeling, fat and sugar content, the difference between fruits, vegetables, and legumes, and the importance of exercise. Students are taught how to prepare food using recipes from around the world. The program involves families in community meals and gardens. To evaluate the degree of overall academic performance and student behavior as the consequence of healthier food choice, graduate students from Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health will document the effectiveness of the program, gauging obesity reduction and improving the general health of the children.