Funders show support
Outreach program gets backing from state, Abell, BGE
Several recent grant awards will allow the BID to maintain its Street Outreach Program and to participate in a trust-building initiative funded through the Aspen Institute.
The outreach program offers case management, referrals and crisis response for individuals experiencing housing instability, behavioral health challenges, substance use disorder, and economic disconnection.
Through its first 10 months of operation, the program has provided measurable results, including 12 people who were placed in jobs, 16 people connected to housing services and 20 people who were helped with benefits and medical insurance.
This outreach is a way to aid community members while also improving sidewalk security and freeing up resources for active policing by local law enforcement.
Outreach team members take a proactive approach to helping individuals experiencing homelessness, behavioral health challenges, substance use disorders and economic disconnection. The team also responds in crisis situations, including drug overdoses.
The program was launched with a $200,000 grant from the Governor’s Office of Crime Prevention and Policy. In a vote of confidence in the outreach effort, that office has agreed to provide $138,000 to keep the program going. In addition the Abell Foundation is contributing $50,000 and BGE is providing $10,000.
The BID will also be participating in a major effort to revitalize and activate public spaces along the Corridor under a $500,000 grant that has been received by Loyola University Maryland.
This effort is being called “Rooted in Trust” and will begin with several months of community dialogues and listening sessions, fostering discussion between York Road residents from the historically divided east-side and west-side communities, according to Loyola’s announcement.
The school went on to say that “these sessions will inform the selection of five large-scale greening and public space activation projects.” The projects will be led by neighborhood residents, one from each side of York Road with the goal of bridging historical divides along the Corridor.
“The project’s overarching goal is to train, support and connect an intergenerational network of neighborhood leaders who revitalize and activate public spaces as a pathway to building trust among residents, institutions and communities that have been historically divided,” Loyola said.
Besides the BID and Loyola, the other organizations working on this effort are the York Road Partnership and Govans-Boundary United Methodist Church.
Rooted in Trust is one of 11 national projects selected to receive a Trust in Practice Award, which is co-sponsored by Aspen Institute’s Alliance for Social Trust and Allstate.