TurnAround, Inc.
TurnAround provides comprehensive, trauma-informed services to survivors of domestic and dating violence, sexual abuse and assault, harassment, and human trafficking in Baltimore City and County. This grant supports TurnAround’s legal services program, which partners with Maryland Legal Aid and other legal service providers to provide legal advice and representation to TurnAround clients. Survivors of sexual assualt and domestic violence often have complex legal needs, and timely access to legal services, coupled with TurnAround’s case management support, increases the likelihood that survivors will obtain needed legal relief.
Maryland Consumer Rights Coalition, Inc.
In 2019, Del. Lorig Charkoudian (District 20) introduced legislation in the Maryland General Assembly to limit hospital debt lawsuits for patients owing less than $5000, along with other medical debt lawsuit reforms. The bill did not pass in the abridged session, in part due to concerns that a prohibition may result in unintended consequences for Maryland’s cost-of-care model.
With this grant support, Maryland Consumer Rights Coalition will oversee an econometric research study by health economists at Boston University to calculate the likely effects of a cap on hospital lawsuits at different thresholds. The study’s findings will inform future legislation on medical debt lawsuits in Maryland.
An End to Ignorance, Inc.
In March 2020, An End to Ignorance launched a food rescue and distribution effort in Baltimore in response to rising levels of food insecurity at the start of the Coronavirus pandemic. Started as a small, neighborhood-based food relief effort in Greenmount West, the program has grown rapidly and now distributes 500-600 twenty-pound boxes of food and household goods through a network of community-based partners throughout the city. This grant provides general operating support for An End to Ignorance.
B-360 STEM Education Program, Fiscally Sponsored by Fusion Partnerships, Inc.
B-360 STEM Education is a youth development program that utilizes dirt bike culture to equip youth and young adults with the skills and confidence to pursue STEM opportunities in school and beyond, while also promoting public safety through appropriate dirt bike riding practices. Youth learn and apply engineering theory to build and repair their own dirt bike. This grant provides B-360 with general operating support.
Baltimore Outreach Services, Inc.
Baltimore Outreach Services (BOS) operates a 40 bed shelter for women and children in South Baltimore, one of only three family shelters in Baltimore City. To support and stabilize families staying at the shelter, BOS offers case management, job training and employment support services, educational programming, health and mental health services, and transitional housing. In Fiscal Year 2020, BOS served 98 women and 145 children. This grant provides general operating support for BOS.