NPower, Inc.
In 2016, with support from the Abell Foundation and others, NPower replicated its IT training program for low-income young adults in Baltimore. NPower’s core training program provides students with 16 weeks of hands-on classroom instruction in hardware and software. The academic portion focuses on teaching fundamental IT skills, including networking, cloud computing, coding and service management. Following the classroom instruction, students earn their CompTIA certification and have the option to take additional certificate exams. NPower participants then enter a seven-week paid internship, working four days per week, while one day is spent in professional development activities in the classroom. In the coming year, NPower plans to enroll 150 low-income young adults into training, graduating 135 and placing 122 into employment.
Job Opportunities Task Force
In January 2006, in partnership with the Associated Builders and Contractors, Inc. (ABC), Job Opportunities Task Force (JOTF) launched Project JumpStart, a pre-apprenticeship construction program designed to provide low-income Baltimore City residents with 13 weeks of pre-apprenticeship training. Since its inception, Project Jumpstart has served over 1,300 Baltimore residents, almost all of whom are African-American men (96%) with a criminal record (75%). With funding from the Abell Foundation, Project Jumpstart plans to serve 145 new students and maintain its 75% job placement rate.
Byte Back
Byte Back is a Washington, DC nonprofit organization that trains low-income adults with no computer experience in learning the basic fundamental skills of how to turn on a computer, use a mouse and use Microsoft Office applications. Byte Back then works step by step with students to build upon those skills, preparing students to earn industry-recognized IT credentials. Last year, with support from the Abell Foundation, Byte Back expanded its programming to Baltimore. In 2021, with continued support from Abell, Byte Back plans to enroll 100 Baltimoreans into its classes, with 76 completing. Byte Back will help 36 graduates who earn IT certifications to obtain careers in IT, tracking their job retention for a year.
BioTechnical Institute of Maryland, Inc.
Since 1998, with support from the Abell Foundation, BTI has trained over 450 Baltimore City residents as entry-level technicians in the growing bio-pharma industry. Students first complete BioSTART, BTI’s six-week bridge program, which was started so that BTI could admit students with lower math scores. Students move on to the Laboratory Associates program, where students continue training for 10 weeks and complete a 100-hour internship. Of the 40 students to be trained in 2021, BTI estimates that 29 (or 73%) will graduate and of those who graduate, 22 (or 76%) will be placed into research laboratory and manufacturing technician positions, at an average wage of $17/hour.
Maryland Consumer Rights Coalition, Inc.
In 2019, Del. Lorig Charkoudian (District 20) introduced legislation in the Maryland General Assembly to limit hospital debt lawsuits for patients owing less than $5000, along with other medical debt lawsuit reforms. The bill did not pass in the abridged session, in part due to concerns that a prohibition may result in unintended consequences for Maryland’s cost-of-care model.
With this grant support, Maryland Consumer Rights Coalition will oversee an econometric research study by health economists at Boston University to calculate the likely effects of a cap on hospital lawsuits at different thresholds. The study’s findings will inform future legislation on medical debt lawsuits in Maryland.