Baltimore City Health Department, Fiscally Sponsored by Baltimore Civic Fund
The Baltimore City Health Department, in partnership with the Mayor’s Office of Employment Development (MOED), Baltimore Corps, Jhipiego, and Healthcare Access Maryland, is launching a $12.4 million initiative to control the transmission of COVID-19 through contact tracing and public health education outreach. The initiative will hire 300 unemployed Baltimore residents and train them as contact tracers and community health workers, who will work for up to eight months, earning $38,000 a year plus benefits. Those trained will build Baltimore’s public health infrastructure, helping to coordinate care for residents needing assistance. With support from MOED, those trained will be placed into unsubsized employment.
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 Commercial Transportation Careers training program. MND also provides other employment services, including computer literacy training, walk-in job search and application support and individual job coaching. Funding from Abell will support MND in assisting more than 425 job seekers in Baltimore.
Mayor’s Office of Employment Development, Fiscally Sponsored by Baltimore Civic Fund
The Mayor’s Office of Employment Development (MOED) operates one of the largest summer employment program among larger cities, last year employing 8,600 young people between the ages of 14 and 21 for five weeks. In 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, MOED plans to operate a smaller initiative, employing 4,000 youth in jobs with over 100 non-profit and government partners. Many youth will work remotely for an average of 20 hours a week for five weeks, earning $11 per hour.
BUILD
Turnaround Tuesdays is a BUILD jobs initiative in which residents meet at Zion Baptist Church on Tuesday mornings from 9 am to 11 am to receive help in finding employment. Over 125 people participate in Turnaround Tuesdays each week, completing a 10-week leadership training curriculum that focuses the skills needed to sustain employment. The jobs movement is working: last year, 181 people were placed into jobs, earning an average wage of $15 per hour. According to BUILD, 74% of those placed have remained employed at least a year. Retention is higher (84%) at anchor institutions such as Johns Hopkins Medicine and the University of Maryland Medical System. BUILD is establishing an employment pipeline to “good paying jobs” at these and other long-standing large, anchor institution employers, encouraging them to hire people with criminal records.
Center for Urban Families, Inc.
The Center for Urban Families (CFUF) works to strengthen urban communities by helping fathers and families achieve stability and economic succes. STRIVE Baltimore, the cornerstone of CFUF’s programming, is 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,146 participants graduated from STRIVE Baltimore, with 132 graduates (or 90%) being placed into jobs; 70 former graduates were also placed into jobs, bringing the total number of job placements to 202. STRIVE graduates placed in employment earned an average of $13.01 per hour, and 90% remained employed for at least six months.