Fund for Educational Excellence
The Fund for Educational Excellence is a Baltimore-based non-profit organization that supports public education through its fundraising and collaboration with Baltimore City Public Schools, convening of education stakeholders, and serving as a fiscal sponsor to non-profit organizations. The Fund acts as an independent ambassador, drawing upon its understanding of education needs in Baltimore City, as well as strong relationships with the public, private, and nonprofit sectors, to ensure the best possible education for our city’s public school students. The organization provides stewardship for over $20 million in private philanthropic support for programming targeted towards Baltimore City students.
Food & Water Watch
This grant supports Food & Water Watch’s efforts to ensure that Baltimore City’s Water Accountability and Equity Act is implemented according to the law, and that eligible Baltimore City residents enroll in the “Water for All” program. Under the law, water bills will be capped at 1%-3% of income for those living at 50-200% of the Federal Poverty Limit, including tenants. To incentivize on-time payments and retention in the program, the equivalent amount of each on-time water bill payment is deducted from enrolled residents’ arrears. In addition, the act calls for the creation of the “Office of Water Customers Advocacy and Appeals” within the Department of Public Works (DPW) to provide all residents with a fair and neutral process of resolving water bill issues, which the OIG’s recent report shows are prevalent.
Episcopal Housing Corporation
This grant will support Episcopal Housing Corporation’s renovation of 17 W. Mulberry Court into nine Permanent Supportive Housing units. Permanent Supportive Housing is an evidence-based intervention to end chronic homelessness, which has also been shown to decrease health care spending. Once the development is complete, tenants will be referred from the Baltimore City’s Coordinated Access List, and Health Care for the Homeless will provide social services to those tenants.
Environment America Research & Policy Center
Maryland needs to quickly ramp up its solar siting and production to meet statewide goals. As suggested in the Abell Report “Getting Solar Siting Right in Maryland,” rooftops and parking lots of big box stores are ideal for solar energy installations as they build on already-developed infrastructure and do not disturb undeveloped, productive agricultural or forested land. Grant funds will enable Environment America to conduct research on the viability of rooftop solar on big-box retail stores in Maryland and other states and launch an advocacy campaign to encourage corporate investment in solar installations in Baltimore and Maryland.
The Community School
The Community School is a state-certified, non-public school that provides individualized academics and mentoring for high school students who require an alternative educational route. The Community School educates up to twenty-two students a year, providing significant mentoring in a small environment to help their students achieve success personally and academically. In addition to a rigorous, yet individualized, college preparatory curriculum, The Community School offers mentoring around personal habits, skills, and responsibility.