Business Interface, Inc.
$75,000 / 2008 / Workforce Development
To provide tuition assistance for the warehouse associate job training program for 21 low-income, ex-offender minority males in Baltimore City. The program calls for a four-week training program in basic computer skills to track products, in reading skills to understand where products are retrieved and stored, and in basic math skills. Business Interface finds placement opportunities with local warehouse employers and tracks job retention for a six-month period.
CASA of Maryland, Inc .
$100,000 / 2008 / Workforce Development
For continued support of the Baltimore Worker Employment Center for day laborers and low-income workers. The formal hiring center offers a safe and organized way of helping workers find jobs, helping them to avoid waiting on street corners to be hired. Each month, the center aims to place 300 workers into temporary jobs, and 10 workers into permanent jobs, all paying a living wage. In addition, CASA provides identification cards to those who register with them and helps to solve legal problems, such as recovering lost wages.
Center for Urban Families
$400,000 / 2008 / Workforce Development
For continued support of STRIVE Baltimore, a job training and placement service for unemployed and/or underemployed men and women. In a three-week intensive workshop focusing on job readiness, the STRIVE model emphasizes attitudinal training, job placement, post-placement support, one-on-one and group counseling, parenting skills, and case management.
Maryland Volunteer Lawyers Service
$50,000 / 2007 / Workforce Development
For continued support of the Baltimore CASH Campaign, an initiative to increase the use of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and free tax preparation services. Its goal is to complete at least 7,000 tax refunds for low-income taxpayers who are eligible to receive the EITC refunds. The campaign will focus on promoting asset development strategies, including the directing of refunds to individual bank accounts and savings for homeownership and post-secondary education tuition.
The Men’s Center, Inc.
$5,000 / 2007 / Workforce Development
For the purchase of a vehicle, insurance coverage, and related expenses for the Fresh Food Recovery Program. The vehicle is to be used to collect day-old food from farmers’ markets and redistribute the food to area soup kitchens and other community-based organizations serving approximately 2,000 people each week.