Maryland Dental Action Coalition, Inc.
he Maryland Dental Action Coalition (MDAC) is a statewide dental access advocacy group. In 2019, MDAC and other groups successfully advocated for the creation of a waiver program to provide comprehensive dental benefits to Maryland adutls who are eligible for both Medicaid and Medicare. MDAC launched a collaborative of professionals from the dental, health and social services sectors to support the implementation of the waiver program. This grant supports the collaborative.
Maryland Hunger Solutions
Maryland Hunger Solutions (MHS) is an initiative of the Food Research and Action Center, a national research and advocacy organization that works to eradicate hunger in the United States. MHS works with state and local government agencies and nonprofit partners to maximize participation in federal nutrition programs, increase access to healthy, affordable food in low-income communities, and improve public policies in Maryland to reduce hunger and improve nutrition. This grant provides operating support to MHS as it works to respond to increased demand for assistance in accessing federal nutrition benefits in the wake of job losses caused by COVID-19.
Moveable Feast, Inc.
Founded in 1989 as a volunteer-led organization providing home-cooked meals to people with HIV and AIDS, Moveable Feast is now the leading provider of home-delivered, medically tailored meals for people with chronic health conditions in the Baltimore region. The organization delivers approximately 550,000 meals annually to individuals who are medically compromised and have diseases that are impacted by nutrition. Moveable Feast is an active participant in the national Food Is Medicine coalition, an association of nonprofit food and nutrition service providers that collaborate to advance public policy, promote research, and share best practices on the provision of medically tailored meals and nutrition education. This grant provides general support for Moveable Feast’s operations.
Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) for Children in Baltimore, Inc.
Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) of Baltimore provides support and advocacy for children in abuse and neglect cases in Baltimore City’s Juvenile Court. CASA recruits and trains lay volunteers who work closely with children referred by the Juvenile Court to assess their needs and make recommendations to the Court regarding the child’s placement and needed services. Research on the CASA model suggests that children with CASA volunteers are more likely to be placed in permanent homes and less likely to re-enter foster care after they achieve permanancy than children without CASA volunteers. This grant supports a new volunteer recruitment campaign, with a particular focus on increasing the number of African American CASA volunteers.
Fostering Change Network Foundation
Fostering Change Network (FCN) provides mentoring, training, coaching and networking opportunities to young adults who are or were in foster care to help them achieve personal and professional success. This grant funds FCN’s Support Our Foster Youth program, which provides support to foster youth who are attending college, to help them achieve their educational and career goals. FCN is developing partnerships with Baltimore City Community College, University of Baltimore, and University of Maryland College Park to address the needs of current and former foster youth attending those institutions and provide the support they need to complete their degrees. FCN is working to change the odds for youth in foster care, few of whom attend college, and when they do, they have very low rates of college completion.