The Johns Hopkins Institute for Policy Studies
$50,000 / 2004 / Health and Human Services
Second-year funding for the completion of the “State of Baltimore’s Workforce System” report, which provides a detailed description of Baltimore’s local workforce development system, focusing on the city’s network of one-stop career centers. The report includes a description of who are served by the career centers, the wages of job seekers before and after service, a listing of employers who hire career center job seekers, and an analysis of how well the career center network meets U.S. Department of Labor measures. The report is intended to provide an annual assessment of Baltimore’s workforce system, and will be used as a tool to improve the city’s services to job seekers and employers.
Housing Authority of Baltimore City
$108,800 / 2004 / Health and Human Services
Two grants providing security deposits and post-placement transportation assistance for the Special Mobility Housing Choice Voucher Program. This program is available to residents of public housing and applicants on the public housing/Section 8 waiting list; applicants must pass a criminal background check and be willing to move to a non-impacted area. Program counselors review participants’ credit histories and finances, encourage them to develop a savings plan, and help in the search for housing.
Housing Authority of Baltimore City
$92,625 / 2004 / Health and Human Services
Second-year funding of the Special Mobility Housing Choice Voucher Program established in accordance with the Thompson v. HUD partial consent decree. The program provides financial assistance and counseling to families served by the Section 8 Mobility Counseling Program, and is designed to encourage rental assistance recipients to move out of inner-city neighborhoods into surrounding neighborhoods in the region.
Greater Baltimore Tennis Patrons Association, Inc. .
$25,000 / 2004 / Health and Human Services
For the expansion of an after-school and summer tennis program for 300 at-risk children in the Barclay, Waverly, Coldstream, and Pen Lucy communities. The eight-week after-school program is being offered to 96 middle school students. It operates two hours a day, two days a week with one hour of instruction and play and one hour devoted to homework assistance and tutoring, and incorporates a mentoring curriculum. Coaches work with 24 underserved youth, selected on the basis of aptitude, effort, capability, and home support, at least three hours per week during the year.
Goodwill Industries of the Chesapeake, Inc.
$180,000 / 2004 / Health and Human Services
Fourth-year funding for the SEETTS Program (Supporting Ex-Offenders in Employment, Training, and Transitional Services), a workforce development initiative for persons leaving Maryland prisons and returning to Baltimore City. The job readiness program provides 14 weeks of transitional services for up to 120 former inmates at a time and assists participants in securing gainful employment.