Digital Harbor Foundation, Fiscally Sponsored by Fund for Educational Excellence
COVID-19 has exposed the lack of both devices, and as importantly, connectivity in the homes of Baltimore City school children. Coordinated by the Fund for Educational Excellence, this grant is part of a City Schools Tech Initiative to pilot the use of mesh-internet installed on the roofs of four high-poverty schools. These cost-effective access nodes tap into school broadband and provide free internet to homes in a four-to-eight-block radius of the school, serving an anticipated 820 students.
The Community School
Certified in 2014 as a small non-public diploma-awarding high school, The Community School in Remington has successfully served struggling students who have failed in Baltimore City Public Schools for over 30 years. This storefront school provides up to 22 14-19 year olds with an interdisciplinary academic and mentoring high school program that reinforces basic skills, while individualized instruction builds knowledge and skills for college, competitive employment, and community contribution. Over 40 volunteers support teachers and work individually with students. The Community School boasts a daily attendance above 95% and a college enrollment rate of 65%.
Civic Works, Inc.
Civic Works’ Retrofit Baltimore program offers weatherization, home energy efficiency, and health and safety improvements to low- and moderate-income households. Utilizing competitive Maryland Energy Administration funding, Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development grants and BGE utility rebates, the program expects to complete 375 energy audits, energy efficient weatherization improvements in 70 homes, bedbug remediations in 44 homes and screen all households for property tax credits, water bill discounts, and federal nutrition benefits. The grant covers expenses for staff to promote the program, screen applicants for benefits, establish scopes of work, manage contract implementation, and ensure quality control.
Chesapeake Climate Action Network
Chesapeake Climate Action’s “Rebuilding Baltimore’s Workforce” initiative will advocate for a domestic Marshall Plan to create new jobs for unemployed and newly unemployed residents in Baltimore City. The intiiative builds on their track record of success in creating local jobs and job training efforts that address the global crisis of climate change. Massive urban investments to weatherize low-income homes, plant trees, and train workers for the solar and wind power and cleaner transportation jobs is intended to restart the economy and provide living wage jobs.
Benefits Data Trust
Benefits Data Trust (BDT) is a national nonprofit organization that assists low income individuals to access state and federal aid programs to meet their financial needs. BDT leverages partnerships with government agencies to conduct outreach to individuals who may be eligible for government assistance programs that they are not currently receiving. Using highly trained screening and enrollment staff and customized technology, BDT screens these individuals to assess their eligibility for a range of public benefit programs, and assists them to enroll in those programs for which they are eligible, helping to lift them out of poverty. This grant supports BDT’s Maryland Benefits Center.