Job Opportunities Task Force
The Job Opportunities Task Force (JOTF) works to develop and advocate policies and programs to increase the skills, job opportunities, and incomes of low-skill, low-income Maryland workers and to dismantle the criminalization of poverty. Funding from the Abell Foundation will support JOTF’s management of a Community Bail Fund to release individuals being held on an unaffordable bail from the Baltimore City Detention Center and to ensure their appearance for court. In addition, JOTF case managers will provide supportive services to assist clients with successful reentry.
Helping Oppressed People Excel (HOPE), Fiscally Sponsored by Fusion Partnerships, Inc.
HOPE is a descendant of the Public Safety Compact (PSC), a justice reinvestment agreement between the State of Maryland and the Safe and Sound Campaign. One of the PSC graduates is Antoin Quarles-El, a PSC graduate and founding member of the PSC Core Action Team – that led advocacy and peer-to-peer support for PSC participants. After the closure of the PSC, Mr. Quarles-El would not let the network falter and founded HOPE to provide continued peer support and connection to resources for fellow returning citizens. Funding from the Abell Foundation will allow HOPE to continue its work with approximately 15-21 individuals weekl. During the pandemic, HOPE mentorship has continued using phone calls and video-conferencing, providing an important social contact and support for its clients. Peer mentors keep in regular touch with members outside of weekly meetings too, checking-in on their status, health, and any new challenges or milestones.
From Prison Cells to PhD, Inc
From Prison Cells to PhD was created in 2016 to help people with criminal convictions obtain employment and/or postsecondary education (PSE). Clients receive workforce development training, career readiness skills, college application/readiness assistance, and 1-2 years or more of mentoring. Funding from the Abell Foundation will support its Prison to Professional (P2P) program providing these services to individuals recently released from the Baltimore City Detention Center (BCDC). P2P will serve 80 individuals in several cohorts over the next year virtually and if restrictions allow at some point in-person. Components of the P2P Program include the following: (1) An 8-week workshop; and (2) Ten months of case management which includes weekly peer mentoring, executive coaching, and tutoring.
Second Chance for Women, Fiscally Sponsored by Fusion Partnerships, Inc.
Second Chance for Women (SCW) operates in the Maryland Correctional Institution for Women (MCIW) and was founded in 2009 by Mary Joel Davis. Currently, Second Chance helps women prepare for their parole hearings on a one to one basis. This one on one support and mentoring is obviously ideal, but it does not scale. Funding from the Abell Foundation will support SCW to create an accessible and user friendly parole handbook to expand their outreach in the prison system through distribution of the handbook in the prison libraries and in workshops conducted by Second chance and other reentry providers in the facilities.
Morgan State University Foundation
Funding from the Abell Foundation will support Morgan State University’s evaluation of the pilot aerial surveillance program implemented by the Baltimore Police Department. The purpose of this program evaluation is to provide an objective, evidence-based evaluation analysis as to the effectiveness of aerial surveillance in support of crime and violence reduction in Baltimore City.