Baltimore Development Corporation
For Baltimore to both attract Opportunity Zone investments and ensure such investments benefit community residents and businesses, the Opportunity Zone Coordinator provides a valuable resource and competitive advantage to connect Opportunity Zone investors with projects and to connect projects to critical financing. Baltimore has been nationally recognized as one of the first cities to have a designated point person for the Opportunity Zone program. The grant covers the second year of the Coordinator’s salary.
Banner Neighborhoods Community Corporation
Banner Neighborhoods and Southeast Community Development Corporation are teaming up to ensure a fair, accurate and inclusive 2020 Census count among hard to reach populations of imigrants and seniors in neighborhoods in Southeast and East Baltimore. Outreach efforts include an awareness campaign in schools, door to door visits, presentations at senior centers and senior housing communities, along with Spanish language radio advertising and public service announcements.
Maryland Hemp Education Corp.
Maryland Hemp Educational Corporation was newly formed to provide the public with research, information and educational resources on industrial hemp and to promote the development of a hemp industry in Maryland. Recent changes in law allows the cultivation and sale of hemp, a crop with wide ranging uses and applications including rope, fabrics, paper, insulation and construction materials, as well as food and beverage products. Education and outreach efforts will include creation of a website, sponsored training and navigating the regulatory process for growing and processing hemp.
Adopt a Block, Inc.
Adopt a Block distributes over 300,000 pounds of food a year to more than 45 shelters, soup kitchens, pantries and partnering agencies in Baltimore City. Adopt A Block has weekly scheduled pickups with corporate partners and secures items that are donated by individuals, typically within a 24-48 hour turnaround window. A box truck will be purchased to facilitate the collection and distribution of items to partners and individuals served by the organization.
Adopt a Block, Inc.
The Compassion Commission program teaches 300 young people ages 11 to 25 to look beyond their lives and be a positive influence to low-income inner-city children and adults. This is achieved through a weeklong series of activities focused in East Baltimore that provides an experience that fosters leadership, promotes volunteerism, and develops an interest in the welfare of others. Adopt A Block will acquire, renovate, and donate a formerly vacant Baltimore City home to a family led by a resident leader in the community in East Baltimore.