Rose Street Community Center
Since February 2000, with support from the Abell Foundation, the Rose Street Community Center (Rose Street) has offered small weekly stipends to community residents in exchange for participation in daily community cleanups or gang mediation meetings. Last year, Rose Street served more than 120 people per week. Nearly 20% of those served each week (an average of 22 people) reside in Rose Street’s five transitional houses. Those residing in the houses participate daily in community cleanups. Once they have secured employment, Rose Street staff assists them in obtaining permanent housing. Roughly a third of those served each week (30 to 40 people) are in recovery or active addiction. They participate in a morning motivational meeting and receive a small stipend for bus transportation. Over half of those served each week (approximately 70 people) are high-risk youth ages 15 to 24. Rose Street holds morning meetings with the youth where the youth identify and de-escalate disputes. Rose Street also connects the youth to programs and services available in the community.
Civic Works, Inc.
The Center for Sustainable Careers (CSC) has built a multi-tiered green career “pathway out of poverty” by training and placing Baltimore City residents in the infrastructure remediation and residential energy-efficiency industries. Across its programs, CSC has maintained an average job placement rate of 88%. Since 2010, 80% of graduates have remained employed for at least one year. Last year, 83% of program participants had a significant history of arrest and conviction and over 63% were formerly incarcerated. Over the next year, with funding from the Abell Foundation, CSC will train 100 Baltimore City residents for entry-level positions as well as 24 incumbent workers.
CASH Campaign of Maryland
The Baltimore CASH Campaign—Creating Assets, Savings, and Hope—was launched in 2001 to increase access to the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), a powerful work incentive and poverty-alleviation tool, lifting more families out of poverty than any other federal aid program. Now a program of the CASH Campaign of Maryland, Baltimore CASH plans to serve 7,500 Baltimore residents in 2022 by operating 11 free tax preparation sites.
Living Classrooms Foundation
Project SERVE enrolls up to 150 returning citizens a year, providing them with paid, on-the-job work experience. Once participants have worked with Project SERVE for four to six months, they are placed into entry-level jobs with public and private employers. In 2019, the program maintained a 60% job placement rate, a 56% job retention rate after one year of employment, and a low recidivism rate of 9%. With funding from the Abell Foundation, Project SERVE will expand its case management and wraparound services to support 60 additional participants.
Downtown Partnership of Baltimore
The Mayor’s Office of Employment Development (MOED) and the Downtown Partnership of Baltimore (DPOB) are collaborating on a transitional employment initiative, where over the course of a year, MOED will hire 60 unemployed local residents and connect them to DPOB for three-month employment placements in DPOB’s Downtown COVID Cleaning Corps. Funding from the Abell Foundation will ensure that the COVID Cleaning Corps has the equipment needed to clean streets, alleyways, and other public places as businesses return to their downtown offices. Abell funds will be used to purchase sensors that the Cleaning Corps members will install on trashcans throughout downtown Baltimore. The sensors are designed to improve trash collection.