Archives
Grant Awards for Fiscal Year Ending December 31, 1998
Community Affairs
Association of Baltimore Area Grantmakers / $3,000
The Association of Baltimore Area Grantmakers is a membership organization of seventy foundation and corporate grantmakers founded to strengthen and promote organized private philanthropy. This grant paid membership dues.Baltimore Community Foundation / $176,500
As the Baltimore Community Foundation continues to build a permanent, independent civic endowment to benefit current and future generations of Baltimoreans, this grant is helping to strengthen the organization's fundraising and grantmaking capacity. The Community Foundation raises, manages and distributes funds for charitable purposes in the Greater Baltimore region. So that the income provides a permanent source of grant monies for general or specific purposes, contributions from individuals, corporations or other foundations often are pooled and invested. In other instances, contributions are used immediately for a special project or current need in the community. Current assets exceed $85 million, and this past year grants of $9.6 million supported the arts and humanities, education, health, housing human services and neighborhoods.Greater Baltimore Committee Foundation: Regionalism Initiative / $15,000
The Greater Baltimore Committee (GBC) defines its mission as improving the business climate of the Greater Baltimore region, by organizing civic and corporate leadership to develop solutions to problems that affect the region's competitiveness and viability. GBC has endorsed three major policy initiatives - concerning growth management, affordable housing, and tax-base sharing - essential to an economic and socially healthy region. This grant supports issue and opinion research to ascertain public awareness and perception of these issues. Hands On Baltimore
Five years ago, Hands On Baltimore (HOB) was created to provide a mechanism for coordinating local volunteerism, allowing scheduling flexibility and a choice of opportunities for busy professionals. In addition to recruiting and training volunteers, HOB designs volunteer programs for corporate employees and trains people for board service. HOB can take credit for generating more than 67,000 hours of volunteering, at a value of close to $1 million. This two-year matching grant supports the organization's efforts to increase the level of funding received from individuals.Neighborhood Design Center / $25,000
For thirty years, the Neighborhood Design Center (NDC) has mobilized volunteers from the fields of architecture, landscape architecture, engineering, interior design and planning to help community organizations plan and implement community projects. Recently, NDC has concentrated staff and volunteer resources in three areas: community safety, strategic neighborhood planning, and youth and community projects. As the number of requests to NDC for assistance has mushroomed, there has been a shortage of volunteers in certain areas. The goal of this grant is to help increase the organization's ability to work effectively with neighborhoods, by hiring a staff person to expand and better educate the volunteer corps, find senior mentors for inexperienced volunteers, and more thoroughly document what volunteers are learning and doing.Neighborhood Design Center / $25,000
For thirty years, the Neighborhood Design Center (NDC) has mobilized volunteers from the fields of architecture, landscape architecture, engineering, interior design and planning to help community organizations plan and implement community projects. Recently, NDC has concentrated staff and volunteer resources in three areas: community safety, strategic neighborhood planning, and youth and community projects. As the number of requests to NDC for assistance has mushroomed, there has been a shortage of volunteers in certain areas. The goal of this grant is to help increase the organization's ability to work effectively with neighborhoods, by hiring a staff person to expand and better educate the volunteer corps, find senior mentors for inexperienced volunteers, and more thoroughly document what volunteers are learning and doing.Baltimore Advisors, Inc / $150,000
Baltimore Advisors, Inc. is an affiliate of Michael Porter's Harvard-based Initiative for a Competitive Inner City, a national program of technical and economic development assistance to inner city businesses. This two-year grant supports the organization's efforts to help small businesses (less than $10 million in annual sales) in Baltimore City increase revenues, expand job opportunities and, through alliances with university-based business programs and corporations, connect with the broader regional economy.Citizens Planning and Housing Association (CPH) / $50,000
This grant supports the work of CPHA's Committee on the Region, which has been laying the organizational, administrative, funding and communications groundwork to promote a Campaign for Regional Solutions in Baltimore City and surrounding counties. This groundwork includes research on regional issues and models, development of working relationships and alliances with other organizations, and initiation of regional political strategies and public outreach programs. Currently the Committee on the Region is focusing on two key policy initiatives: 1) regional transportation planning, and; 2) equitable resource sharing among regional jurisdictions.Community Court / $250,000
In 1994, a policy study group of the Greater Baltimore Committee (GBC) identified as a top priority the establishment of a community court in Baltimore, modeled after the successful Midtown Manhattan Community Court. The main objective of the Community Court is to cut down on nuisance crimes by setting up a streamlined procedure for booking, assessing, judging, and (if appropriate) punishing defendants arrested for such crimes. In most cases, when a defendant is sentenced, the punishment will include community service in the neighborhood where the defendant committed the crime. This three-year grant to the Greater Baltimore Committee Foundation will support a Community Service Coordinator, who will evaluate defendants' ability to perform service tasks, and assign defendants to specific communities.Hands On Baltimore / $30,000
Five years ago, Hands On Baltimore (HOB) was created to provide a mechanism for coordinating local volunteerism, allowing scheduling flexibility and a choice of opportunities for busy professionals. In addition to recruiting and training volunteers, HOB designs volunteer programs for corporate employees and trains people for board service. HOB can take credit for generating more than 67,000 hours of volunteering, at a value of close to $1 million. This two-year matching grant supports the organization's efforts to increase the level of funding received from individuals.1000 Friends of Maryland / $26,500
1000 Friends of Maryland is a network of organizations, government officials and private individuals formed in response to sprawling development patterns across the state, and resulting social, economic, and environmental costs. This grant supports the transformation of 1000 Friends from an all-volunteer network to a professionally-staffed organization, capable of working with communities across the state on the interrelated issues of growth management, transportation, the environment, and infrastructure. To build stronger public support for its efforts, 1000 Friends is developing an effective communications program, including newsletters, town meetings, citizen workshops and legislative alerts.
Education
The Johns Hopkins University / $176,500
This grant, applied at the discretion of the University's President, supports the Goldseker Scholarship Fund, which this academic year is providing financial aid to nineteen undergraduates from the Baltimore metropolitan area.
New Song Community Learning Center / $30,000
The New Song Academy, a public school for grades K, 1, 2, 6, 7 & 8, in the Sandtown-Winchester neighborhood, is one of four "new" schools (established by parents and teachers, with some autonomy from the central school system) in Baltimore City. In one of Baltimore's poorest neighborhoods, New Song has created a school where children learn to read and write fluently in first grade, despite a per pupil allocation far lower than the city average. This grant supports the addition of second grade, which increases the school's enrollment from 59 to 71 students.
Thomas More Project / $11,700
In 1997 the Thomas More Project initiated the Beth Shalom Program at St. Frances Academy, an African-American Catholic high school in East Baltimore. The goal of the Beth Shalom Program is to raise awareness among African-American students of Jewish history and culture, and to emphasize the commonalties of African-American and Jewish experiences. This grant supports a portion of operating costs for one year while endowment funds are being raised.
Morgan State University / $176,500
At the discretion of the University's President, this grant supports the Goldseker Fellows Program, which currently provides graduate fellowships to 66 graduate students from the Baltimore metropolitan area.
Human Services
Black/Jewish Forum of Baltimore, Inc. (BLEWS) / $50,000
Created in 1978, BLEWS works to strengthen relationships between local African-American and Jewish communities. The leaders of BLEWS have used many strategies to achieve their goals, including dinner dialogues, workshops, seminars, intercongregational programs, and participation in advocacy programs and national forums. This three-year grant supports BLEWS new Youth Initiative, designed to engage at least 2,500 African-American and Jewish teenagers in a series of activities to increase understanding and cooperation, and develop leadership skills.
Families Involved Together / $22,500
Families Involved Together (FIT) is a peer-support organization for families of children with emotional, development, or medical problems. FIT has a strong track record of collaboration with both public and private agencies, and these partnerships have resulted in innovative mechanisms to help families struggling to cope with their children's problems. In 1997, FIT made the difficult transition from a quasi-public organization to an independent non-profit organization. This grant supports FIT's efforts to increase board effectiveness, and to raise more funds from private agencies and foundations.
Jubilee Baltimore, Inc. / $50,000
Jubilee Baltimore is a community housing and employment organization in Southeast Baltimore, which has developed the Good Work Partnership, an initiative designed to open up jobs in East Baltimore as well as Eastern Baltimore County to low-income city residents. This grant supports Jubilee's efforts to launch the Partnership, a workforce development project that will stretch across Baltimore City and County lines to pull together a coalition of businesses, government agencies, job training programs and schools. As part of Good Work, Jubilee is establishing Moving Up, a program for Good Work members to help low-wage workers advance within the local job market.
Learning to Work Project / $200,000
The Learning to Work Project is a collaboration between Baltimore Reads, which provides direct literacy services and supports adult literacy providers in Baltimore City, and Genesis Jobs, which coordinates an extensive cadre of volunteers to help individuals find jobs in the Baltimore metropolitan area. This two-year matching grant supports a pilot project that will develop curricula focused on employability for up to thirteen adult literacy programs, and then assist the graduates of those programs to find and keep jobs. An overarching goal of the project is to establish employability as the primary focus of Baltimore-area adult literacy providers and clients.
Maryland Food Bank / $15,000
The Maryland Food Bank was founded in 1979 to gather surplus food and grocery products from the food industry and general public, and distribute it to more than 900 community food providers throughout Maryland. During a recent strategic planning process, the leadership of the Food Bank closely examined the condition of the organization's physical plant, and determined that they may need to move to a new space. This grant pays the costs of a consultancy to help determine whether an extensive capital campaign for a new physical plant is a feasible undertaking for the Food Bank.
Northwest Senior Center / $60,000
Created in 1976, the Center serves some 3,000 senior citizens through a variety of social services, as well as recreational and educational programming. A recent strategic assessment of its operations indicated that the Center should serve more clients, with more services in more locations, by forming alliances with related organizations, and generating greater non-governmental income. This two-year grant supports an administrative assistant position, which allows the Executive Director to focus on these larger, long-term issues.
Parks and People Foundation / $30,000
In the summer of 1998, the Parks and People Foundation organized and oversaw the SuperKids Camp, at sites all over the city, for rising third graders with reading problems. This grant helped support the SuperKids Camp site at St. Frances Academy in East Baltimore, in collaboration with the France-Merrick and Baltimore Community Foundations. The project involved a partnership between Parks and People (overall coordination), St. Frances staff (site management), Baltimore Reads (reading instruction) and the YMCA (enrichment activities). The children who participated in the camp came from the area around St. Frances Academy, and an initial evaluation indicates that they made academic progress over the course of the summer.
Women's Housing Coalition / $20,000
The Women's Housing Coalition (WHC) works to increase the quantity and quality of affordable housing for low-income women, and to help those women achieve economic and social independence. Currently WHC is developing a new single-room occupancy residence, called the Bennett Home, to serve 29 low-income and disabled women. The Bennett Home contains a spacious industrial kitchen, with WHC would like to modernize and use as an income-generating asset, and possibly as a vehicle for job training and employment generation. This grant supports the costs of consultancies to undertake feasibility studies of the business, training, and employment potential of the kitchen.
Youth As Resources / $30,000
Created in 1994, Youth As Resources (YAR) is based on a model created by the National Crime Prevention Council to help young people develop leadership skills and prove their interest and ability in solving community problems. YAR involves young people in all aspects of the grant-making process: sorting through project proposals, interviewing potential grantees, and deciding which projects to fund. YAR grants support youth-led community projects, such as neighborhood cleanups, video productions, and tutoring programs. This three-year grant towards operating expenses supports YAR's efforts to develop youth leadership, compassion and civic engagement.
The Associated: Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore / $176,500
This grant continues support for the Morris Goldseker Foundation Aid and Education Fund. The purpose of the Fund is to assist new immigrants settling in Baltimore in their efforts to become independent and self-supporting.
Community Housing Associates, Inc. / $50,000
A subsidiary of the non-profit Baltimore Mental Health Systems, Community Housing Associates (CHA) develops and manages community-based housing for mentally-ill adults and children. CHA has created 78 units of housing and administers 415 housing certificates for its clientele, but demand has outstripped supply. This grant enables CHA to establish a predevelopment revolving loan fund, which should significantly speed up property acquisition and rehabilitation.
Neighborhood Development
Baltimore Community Foundation / $300,000
In 1991, the Baltimore Community Foundation (BCF) was one of seven community foundations selected nationally by the Charles Stewart Mott foundation to receive grant and staff support for a neighborhood small grants program. The program ran for five years, distributed about $400,000 to 63 neighborhood projects, and was considered a successful national model. The withdrawal of national funds put the program on hold, but Trustees of the community foundation initiated an effort to create an endowed Neighborhood Grants Fund. This grants supports this effort, which will assure a permanent place for small neighborhood grants in BCF's ongoing work.
Belair-Edison Housing Service / $22,000
To revitalize the main commercial strip running through their neighborhood, the Belair-Edison Housing Service has focused on creation of a merchant association, implementation of physical improvements along the commercial strip, and recruitment of businesses to the area. The result is a more pleasant atmosphere for shopping and an increase in the customer base, but many major businesses still hesitate to invest in the area. This grant supports Belair-Edison's efforts to implement new strategies, including working with city and state-wide economic development agencies, to improve existing businesses, and to attract new businesses.
Cherry Hill 2000 / $50,000
Cherry Hill 2000 represents is a coalition of over 70 organizations, churches and businesses that have come together to develop a vision for the future of the Cherry Hill community. Since the coalition's founding two years ago, its members have hired staff, established standing committees on health, housing, economic development, public safety, and youth, and obtained a federal grant to reduce crime in the area. This grant supports the ongoing activities of Cherry Hill 2000, as the coalition creates momentum and partnerships to put its plans into action.
Citizen Planning and Housing Association / $90,000
For the past six years, Citizens Planning and Housing Association (CPHA) has offered services to dozens of Baltimore community associations through its Resource Center for Neighborhoods. The main purposes of the Resource Center have been to support community leaders' efforts to improve their neighborhoods, and to work with citizens from different areas to address issues that cross neighborhood boundaries. This grant supports CPHA's plan to make the Resource Center more accessible and responsive to community leaders, by expanding the neighborhood leadership program, convening a congress of community leaders, and developing a neighborhood indicators project.
Development Leadership Network / $7,000
A national association of community development practitioners based in Chicago, the Development Leadership Network (DLN) has received national foundation funding to launch the Success Measures Project, to develop useful indicators for community development programs. A key component of this project is the input of ten working groups around the country. This grant supports the efforts of the Maryland Center for Community Development (MCCD) to convene a Success Measures working group in Maryland. MCCD works with materials provided by DLN to bring together community development organizations and funders to develop, test, and refine possible indicators.
Eastern Avenue Revitalization / $45,000
In Southeast Baltimore, the SouthEast Community Organization (SECO) and Southeast Development Inc., its housing and economic arm, are creating a redevelopment strategy for the Eastern Avenue commercial corridor. The strategy -- to rehabilitate, and develop new uses for, two former movie theaters, a beauty academy, and a department store -- has received significant support from community residents, merchants, and elected officials. This grant supports a consultancy to establish project feasibility, bring in funders with a prospective interest in the project, and assist in strategic redevelopment planning for the community.
Foundation for International Community Assistance / $30,000
The Foundation for International Community Assistance (FINCA) began its U.S. microenterprise program in 1994 to improve the economic security of low and moderate-income families by promoting self-employment. In Baltimore, all of FINCA's clients are graduates of the Women Entrepreneurs of Baltimore (WEB) training program, who access FINCA's services by forming a peer-lending group. This grant supports the partnership between WEB and FINCA, which provides WEB graduates with a business education course, quarterly seminars on topics such as business planning, and individualized technical assistance, especially to help with loan applications. FINCA also promotes saving by linking members to Individual Development Accounts.
Govans Ecumenical Development Corporation (GEDCO) / $10,000
A collaboration of church and community groups, GEDCO was established in 1992 to coordinate the housing development and social outreach activities of local churches, particularly along the York Road corridor. Since then, GEDCO has completed over 100 units of special-needs housing for elderly, homeless and mentally-impaired individuals, and also created an emergency assistance network that has helped over 2700 people in need. As the organization has grown, so have its financial needs. This grant supports hiring a consultant to help GEDCO strategically plan for long-term financial stability.
Greater Homewood Community Corporation / $400,000
Greater Homewood is a coalition of 35 communities, which encompass populations of diverse economic status and ethnicity. In 1997 representatives of these communities adopted the Greater Homewood Renaissance Plan, a community-generated, long-range redevelopment plan that identifies 12 priority areas of action. This three-year grant supports the Greater Homewood Community Corporation (GHCC), the organization chosen by community members to lead the plan's implementation. GHCC currently houses several human services programs, and is guiding the development of five entities called for in the Renaissance Plan: the Action Center for Excellent Schools, a Community Building Program, the Jones Falls Watershed Revitalization Corporation, the Neighborhood Action Center, and the Renaissance Development Corporation.
Light Street Housing Corporation / $138,375
Founded in 1984, the Light Street Housing Corporation (LSHC) has worked to provide decent affordable housing for low-income residents of Baltimore City. In 1997 LSHC agreed to be the developer for a 13-house rehabilitation and construction project in the Sharp-Leadenhall neighborhood of South Baltimore. When residents learned of the housing program, they expressed strong interest in organizing around other issues of concern in the community. This grant supports LSHC's efforts to help community members organize around the issues of safety, beautification, education, and employment, in addition to housing. LSHC is working to provide residents with the opportunity to clarify their concerns, develop a strategic plan, and work cooperatively to implement the plan and revitalize their neighborhood.
Maryland Center for Community Development (MCCD) / $120,000
MCCD is the result of a 1997 merger of the Maryland Low-Income Housing Coalition, the Baltimore Housing Roundtable, and the Maryland Alliance for Responsible Investment. Created to promote fair housing opportunities and economic investment at the community level, MCCD provides community organizations with technical assistance, information referral, and training. This three-year grant supports the hiring of staff to strengthen MCCD's capacity to work effectively on economic development issues, such as the revitalization of commercial strips, the viability of cooperative forms of business, and the promotion of microenterprise opportunities.
Operation ReachOut Southwest / $37,000
Organized in 1994 by Bon Secours Hospital's Community Development Department, a committee of community, church and nonprofit leaders came together to identify the surrounding communities' most pressing problems, and devise workable solutions. This committee organized the completion of 60 units of rental housing, and also developed a new Family Support Center. Perhaps their most significant accomplishment, however, was the establishment of Operation ReachOut Southwest, a coalition of community residents and stakeholders. This grant supported the coalition's planning process, which involved more than 250 residents, eleven community-based organizations, and dozens of churches, businesses, non-profits, government agencies and private institutions. The Coalition recently published a 20-year comprehensive plan for the social, economic, and physical revitalization of member communities.
Park-Reist Corridor Coalition, Inc. / $45,007
The Park-Reist Corridor Coalition (PRCC), a community organization which first appointed an executive director in 1997, has made its primary goals reducing crime and revitalizing member communities socially and economically. Through extensive collaborations with non-profit organizations and government agencies, PRCC has gathered baseline information on residents' priorities and problematic properties, and coordinated community clean-ups, gardening projects and vigils. This grant supports PRCC's ongoing efforts to tackle crime, particularly drug-related offenses, and to strengthen the capacity of community leaders and neighborhood associations not only to improve their particular areas, but also to work together on overarching issues.
St. Frances Academy / $130,000
The oldest African-American high school in the United States, St. Frances Academy educates both lower and middle income students at its campus in East Baltimore. Over 90% of St. Frances graduates enroll in college, a rate comparable to top private schools. St. Frances also serves 250 children and senior citizens through its counseling, tutoring and outreach programs. However, while the school is thriving, the surrounding neighborhood suffers from high crime and vacancy rates. This three-year grant supports the hiring of a community organizer, to better understand the needs and concerns of neighborhood residents, and to establish a neighborhood organization capable of creating a strategic plan and implementing priority projects identified in the planning process.
Women Entrepreneurs of Baltimore / $52,500
A highly-respected training program for low and middle-income entrepreneurs in Baltimore, Women Entrepreneurs of Baltimore (WEB) produces a high percentage (70%) of graduates who succeed in getting businesses off the ground. Currently WEB is identifying ways to help program graduates grow their businesses, to produce higher revenues and more jobs. This grant supports WEB's revitalization of its Community Networking Program, designed to get diverse community groups interested in WEB-launched businesses, and to teach WEB graduates to more effectively tap their community connections. In addition, the grant supports a Microlending Program Coordinator, who manages the liaison between WEB and the Foundation for International Community Assistance.