Baltimore Outreach Services
Baltimore Outreach Services (BOS) operates a 40-bed emergency women and children shelter at Christ Lutheran Church, in Federal Hill. The organization also offers case management, transitional housing, educational programming, health and mental health services, job training, and employment services. This grant helped sustain BOS’ various supportive services offered to up to 250 women and children a year, including successfully placing 20 women into jobs.
Baltimore City Health Department
The Baltimore City Health Department’s Family Planning Access Project, a component of B’More for Healthy Babies, provides counseling about, and access to, effective family planning methods. Founded in 2016 with funding from the Abell Foundation, the project has focused on increasing access to Long Acting Reversible Contraception. The next phase of the project will focus on counseling women about contraceptive options and using a new “family planning toolkit” designed to engage women in conversations about their life goals, reproductive health needs, and family planning options. This grant provides two years of support for implementation of the Family Planning Access Project.
Public Justice Center, Inc.
The Public Justice Center (PJC) is a nonprofit, legal services, and advocacy organization that addresses social justice, economic and race equity, and fundamental human rights for individuals in Maryland. With funding from the Abell Foundation, PJC has led a multi-year campaign to research and advocate for changes in laws and practices that limit tenants’ rights and deny due process in eviction cases in Baltimore City’s rent court. As a member of the Renters United Maryland coalition, PJC has been advocating for a legal right to counsel for tenants facing eviction. This grant will fund a study of the cost-effectiveness of providing counsel to tenants in eviction cases in Baltimore City.
Legal Aid Bureau, Inc.
In 2015, Maryland Legal Aid launched the Lawyer in the Library program to provide legal services clinics in Baltimore City libraries, in an effort to make legal services more accessible to people in the community. Part of Legal Aid’s “community lawyering” initiative, the Lawyer in the Library program operates clinics on a regular basis in eight Baltimore City library branches, offering legal advice and representation on a range of civil legal matters. This grant provides operating support for the Lawyer in the Library program.
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.