Johns Hopkins University
Vision for Baltimore is an innovative citywide partnership designed to improve vision screening and follow-up care for Baltimore City public school students. Launched in 2016, Vision for Baltimore screened over 50,000 students during its first three years, provided approximately 9,000 eye examinations to students who failed the vision screenings, and provided more than 6,000 free pairs of eyeglasses to city students. Partners in Vision for Baltimore include the Baltimore City Health Department, which conducts the vision screenings, nonprofit Vision to Learn, which provides eye examinations and eyeglasses in a mobile clinic that visits schools throughout the city, Baltimore City Public Schools, which provides logistical support to ensure that children can be screened and receive follow-up care, and Johns Hopkins University, which provides staff support to ensure that children are able to access the services and encourages students who receive glasses to wear them consistently. This grant provides operating support for year four of Vision for Baltimore.
Intercultural Counseling Connection
The Intercultural Counseling Connection (ICC) is a network of mental health professionals who partner with trained interpreters to provide pro bono therapeutic care and counseling to refugees, asylum seekers, and other forced migrants. With a cadre of about 30 trained therapists, the ICC serves over 100 individuals every year with trauma-informed and culturally competent 1:1 and group counseling sessions to address their psychological, emotional, and social wellbeing. This grant helped support ICC’s general operations, which prioritizes serving uninsured individuals who do not receive federal benefits or supportive services from refugee resettlement agencies and would otherwise lack access to appropriate mental health services.
Homeless Persons Representation Project, Inc.
Homeless Persons Representation Project (HPRP) provides free legal services to homeless individuals throughout the state of Maryland. This grant supports HPRP’s Homeless Youth Initiative, which provides direct representation to unaccompanied homeless youth on a range of legal needs, and advocates for policy solutions to youth homelessness in Maryland.
Health Care for the Homeless, Inc.
Health Care for the Homeless (HCH) provides a full range of health care services to homeless individuals in Maryland, operating three full-service clinics, a mobile clinic, and several satellite locations that together serve over 10,000 patients. This grant supports HCH’s dental program, which provides comprehensive dental care to approximately 1,400 patients in three locations in Baltimore City.
Drink at the Well
Drink at the Well operates a drop-in center to address the needs of vulnerable women in the Curtis Bay community in South Baltimore. Known as The Well, the center offers case management, mentoring, support groups, job skills and financial literacy training, food and clothing, and flexible financial assistance to meet the needs of women in the community. In 2018, The Well launched a social enterprise known as Hon’s Honey, which sells locally-sourced honey and honey-based skin care products and provides employment opportunities for women in The Well’s mentoring program. This grant provides operating support for Hon’s Honey.