Improving Education, fiscally sponsored by Strong City Baltimore
Founded in 2015 by Jarrod Bolte, a former Baltimore City Schools teacher and administrator, Improving Education set out to change the way schools work to improve outcomes for children. Improving Education will focus on up to 20 elementary schools using a Networked Improvement Community (NIC) to assist teachers, administrators, and community providers in redesigning instructional and support mechanisms to improve early literacy outcomes for students from K through second grade. Working with 125 reading teachers and 3,500 students, Improving Education’s literacy protocols have become a cornerstone for school innovation and early literacy instructional design in City Schools. Improving Education expects to increase the number of students in grades K-2 meeting grade level reading proficiency by 20 percentage points from the beginning to end of year.
Initiative for a Competitive Inner City, Inc.
ICIC will bring Inner City Capital Connections (ICCC) to Baltimore, a business technical assistance program started in 2005 to help urban entrepreneurs better position themselves to access capital, increase revenues, grow their businesses and create jobs. The program specifically targets companies located in areas with high rates of poverty and unemployment, and they accept businesses that draw 40 percent of their employment from economically distressed communities. Grant funds will be used for stipends and travel of business school professors and finance professionals providing the training in Baltimore City.
Waterkeepers Chesapeake
Waterkeepers Chesapeake is a coalition of nineteen independent programs working to make the waters of the Chesapeake and Coastal Bays swimmable and fishable. As an affiliate partner with the Indiana-based Clear Choices Clean Water organization, Waterkeepers Chesapeake will launch a community education and behavioral change campaign to highlight the effects densely populated areas have on water quality. This grant provides programmatic support for the launch of Clear Choices Clean Water Baltimore.
Teach for America – Baltimore
Teach for America: Baltimore has been recruiting and developing teachers and leaders to expand educational opportunities for Baltimore’s children growing up in poverty since 1992. Today, there are 1,200 Teach for America alumni and teachers in Baltimore–80% continue to engage in work impacting low-income communities.This grant will continue TFA’s work in 1. recruiting top talent ( 90 new and diverse teachers–over 57% people of color); 2. building leaders in the classroom, schools and City (a total of 20 TFA principals and 3rd year teacher retention rate of 66%) and 3. Connecting TFA network to accelerate educational outcomes in Baltimore (launching a new network strategy).
SquashWise, Inc.
SquashWise, founded in 2007 and a member of the Squash + Education Alliance, is a year-round after-school athletic and academic program serving 75 Baltimore City public middle and high school students. Program activities include squash and fitness instruction, tutoring, academic enrichment, college preparation, mentoring, service learning, counseling, career development, and travel. As a long-term program that engages youth up to age 25, SquashWise supports an additional 20 alumni participants in college and in the workforce.