Maryland MENTOR, Fiscally Sponsored by Fund for Educational Excellence
Maryland MENTOR aims to increase the quality and quantity of mentoring relationships for Maryland’s young people and close the mentoring gap. The organization provides free training, technical assistance, and quality improvement efforts to mentoring programs. The Mentoring Connector also helps programs recruit mentors. This grant provides general operating support.
Maryland Access to Justice Commission, Fiscally Sponsored by Maryland Bar Foundation
The COVID-19 pandemic has broadsided the economy and led to the filing of an unprecedented volume of civil legal actions, such as missed rent payments; disputes over medical and consumer debt; the need for protective orders; applications for unemployment insurance; drafting of wills or dealing with probate. Under this grant, the Task Force will identify, research and discuss opportunities to improve the civil legal aid delivery system, including addressing inequities in the judicial system, creating a better system of resources and warm referrals; building a triage system to provide targeted help; and engaging more pro-bono and reduced fee assistance for civil legal problems, culminating in a final report of recommendations to be completed by December 2020.
Marian House, Inc.
Marian House is a supportive housing program for homeless women and children located in the Better Waverly neighborhood of Baltimore City. Funding from the Abell Foundation will support Marian House’s transitional housing program which provides housing, meals and support services to homeless women, helping to improve self-esteem and overall mental health, as well as teach skills that will enable them to attain emotional and economic independence.
Johns Hopkins University
The Johns Hopkins Brancati Center for the Advancement of Community Care (“The Brancati Center”) will implement an evidence-based diabetes self-management training and support program for 70 people in partnership with three churches in East Baltimore: Zion Baptist Church; Memorial Baptist Church; and Israel Baptist Church. The Brancati Center will assess the effectiveness of the program through both laboratory results and validated patient questionnaires for the following outcomes: A1C levels; weight loss; blood pressure; medication burden (the number of diabetes-related medications and the type and dosages of medications); and participants’ knowledge of diabetes self-management information.
Historic East Baltimore Community Action Coalition, Inc.
Dee’s Place, established in 2001, is a substance abuse recovery program in East Baltimore, developed and launched by the Historic East Baltimore Community Action Coalition (HEBCAC). Dee’s Place currently operates seven days per week, but they are only able to provide on-site staff support from 7am-7pm Monday through Friday (70 hours/week) and 12 hours on the weekend. Dee’s Place continues to see the need to be open 24/7 and they have received numerous requests from clients and partner organizations to do so. With funding and support from the Abell Foundation, Dee’s Place is able to meet their goal of being open 132 hours/week.