Maryland New Directions
Maryland New Directions, Inc., (MND) is a private, nonprofit, career counseling and job placement agency that provides occupational skills training, including the Maritime Transportation Distribution and Logistics training program and the Commercial Transportation Careers training program. MCAT also provides other employment services, inlcuding computer literacy training, walk-in job search and application support, individual job coaching, and other personalized support services. Funding from Abell will support MND in assisting more than 300 job seekers in Baltimore.
Baltimore City Foundation, Mayor’s Office of Employment Development
The Mayor’s Office of Employment Development (MOED) operates the sixth largest summer employment program among larger cities, last year employing 7,808 young people between the ages of 14 and 21 for five weeks. In 2019, MOED expects to employ 8,000 youth, providing employment opportunities at 680 worksites. Funding from Abell will support 47 YouthWorks positions at nonprofit organization worksites.
Vehicles for Change, Inc.
Since 1999, the Abell Foundation has supported Vehicles for Change (VFC) in making low-cost cars available to low-income job seekers in Baltimore City. In 2015, with funding from Abell, VFC launched an automotive technician repair program. VFC hires men and women who have been recently released from prison or who have been granted work release (usually in small cohorts of seven to eight people). All program applicants have successfully completed the 600-hour Automotive Service Excellence (ASE) Auto Maintenance and Light Repair training program while incarcerated. At VFC, they receive three to five months of paid work experience, earning $9 an hour. The on-the-job experience is designed to build the trainees’ resumes and overcome any reservations that employers have about hiring returning citizens. All trainees must pass at least four ASE certification tests. The program is working: of the 114 trainees who enrolled since the beginning of the program, only four have not completed because they were on work release and had to return to prison. All of the 110 graduates have been placed into employment, with an average starting hourly wage of $16 per hour. Funding from Abell will support the training and job placement of 12 Baltimore residents.
Johns Hopkins School of Public Health
Dr. Jeffrey Leek is a professor of Biostatistics and Oncology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He is also the co-creator of the Johns Hopkins Data Science Specialization, a 10-course introduction to data science, taught completely online by Bloomberg School of Public Health professors. . Recognizing that many students cannot not afford the expensive laptops needed to complete the courses, Dr. Leek and his colleagues developed Chromebook Data Science (CBDS), an educational program to help historically underserved populations in Baltimore who can read, write, and use a computer to gain the skills needed to obtain entry-level data science jobs. With funding from Abell and Johns Hopkins, Dr. Leek and his colleagues are enrolling small cohorts of youth in CBDS. The youth are referred by and receive intensive case management from the Youth Opportunity program at the the Historic East Baltimore Community Action Coalition in CBDS. Once the youth complete the two-month program, they receive paid on-the-job experience, working full-time at Dr. Leek’s startup data science company, earning $18 an hour for at least six months.
Center for Urban Families, Inc.
The mission of the Center for Urban Families (CFUF) is to strengthen urban communities by helping fathers and families achieve stability and economic succes. STRIVE Baltimore, the cornerstone of CFUF’s programming, emphasizes attitudinal training, job placement, and post-placement support, with a strict, demanding, three-week workshop that focuses on workplace behavior, appearance, and attitude. Upon completion of training, STRIVE graduates are placed in jobs, and are followed by STRIVE staff for two years. Last year,180 participants graduated from STRIVE Baltimore, with 93 graduates (or 52%) being placed into jobs; 104 graduates of other CFUF programs and 138 former graduates were also placed into jobs, bringing the total number of job placements to 335. STRIVE graduates placed in employment earned an average of $12.20 per hour, and 74% remained employed for at least six months.