Baltimore Education Research Consortium
Launched by the Abell Foundation and Open Society Foundation in 2007, the Baltimore Education Research Consortium (BERC) at Johns Hopkins University pursues long- and short-term educational data analysis and research, and subsequently interprets and shares the findings with Baltimore City Public Schools (City Schools), community, and stakeholder leaders. Over the next two and one-half years, BERC will expand its work and support for youth in Baltimore by building a sustainable research and practice community that is open to any university or college in Maryland interested in working with Baltimore City Public Schools.
The new governance structure, with several Councils and Research Boards, will increase opportunities to partner, disseminate findings, and translate research findings into action steps in Baltimore City. By December 2021, BERC will transition to a new revenue model that relies primarily on research grant awards to fund BERC’s ongoing operation.
Baltimore Curriculum Project, Inc.
In 2017, Baltimore Curriculum Project was named the Lead Education Partner in the $30 million Choice Neighborhood Implementation Grant to redevelop the Perkins Homes neighborhood in East Baltimore. The overall goal of the five-year City Springs College and Career Readiness (CCR) Program is to prepare City Springs students to graduate from high school successfully prepared to pursue careers of choice via successful completion of college or other post-secondary training. Targeting 230 middle school students, City Springs will focus in Year I on bolstering academic readiness and career exploration by providing: Individual Academic Counseling/high school planning; Accelerated Middle School Math & Science performance/Deepening English Instruction for High Performers; College and Career Resource Class/College & Career Exploration; Parent education and engagement in College and Career Readiness; Participation in Mentoring Programs.
Baltimore Community ToolBank
Baltimore Community ToolBank provides member organizations with access to tools and other items for use in community clean-ups, festivals, and other projects for a nominal fee. The ToolBank’s Environmental Education project will develop a formal curriculum and educational programming for visitors. It will highlight the ToolBank’s use of 600,000 gallons of stormwater runoff collected annually in water cisterns and use of native plants and landscaping at its warehouse. he programming will educate visitors and inspire them to undertake similar stormwater management projects.
Association for the Public Defender of Maryland
The Association for the Public Defender of Maryland was created to support the activities of the Maryland Office of the Public Defender (OPD), an independent state agency that provides legal representation to indigent defendants throughout the state. This grant provides matching funds for two americorp volunteers who will be placed at OPD in Baltimore City to support pretrial reform efforts and expansion of the OPD social work program.
Alternative Directions, Inc.
Alternative Directions, Inc. (ADI) has over 30 years of experience with prisoner re-entry services and pro se civil legal services. This grant will provide matching funds for ADI’s Civil Legal Program which provides free legal assistance to individuals in prison or recently released from prison. These pro-se services focus primarily on family and domestic legal issues and expungements.