Baltimore Summer Funding Collaborative Announces $3.5 Million for Children & Youth Programs

The Baltimore Summer Funding Collaborative (the Collaborative) has awarded $3.5 million in grants to support 74 high-quality summer programs for children and youth living in low-income families throughout Baltimore City. The Collaborative is a partnership between public, private and nonprofit institutions that aims to create summer program options for families, including academic support to reduce summer learning loss, youth work opportunities and a variety of enrichment activities.
 
Collaborative members – some of Baltimore’s largest public, private and nonprofit institutions – include the Abell Foundation, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Clayton Baker Trust, Constellation, Family League of Baltimore, France-Merrick Foundation, The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, The Hinkey-Benson Family Fund, Lockhart Vaughan Foundation, Joseph & Harvey Meyerhoff Family Charitable Funds, Under Armour and United Way of Central Maryland as funding partners.
 
“We hope to positively affect the individual young people participating in the programs, help organizations strengthen their programs, and help Baltimore create a stronger and equitable system of summer programs to help increase academic and life skills, improve career readiness and positively affect youth development,” said Amy Gross, Executive Director of the France-Merrick Foundation and collaborative partner since 2015. “The Summer Funding Collaborative gives the France-Merrick Foundation an avenue to support its educational goals around literacy, social-emotional development and career readiness in new ways and we appreciate learning about so many great programs through this collaborative approach.”
 
Responding to grantee feedback, this year the Collaborative moved its decision-making process up by two months so programs would be notified earlier in the year and be better positioned to launch in the summer. While members of the Collaborative bring their own priorities to the table – including literacy, STEM, youth employment, environmental education, sports and arts – they work together to make complementary funding decisions with the goal of supporting a diverse set of high-quality summer programs to reduce summer learning loss and ensure more youth have the chance to reach their full potential.
 
“Utilizing the innovative spirit and passion of the collaborative to create change through education, activity and mentorship provides an opportunity to share a sense of belonging and responsibility, while supporting our children and youths’ passions and desires to be better, said Stacey Ullrich, Head of Global Social Responsibility at Under Armour.

The following organizations will receive funding from the Summer Funding Collaborative:

• Access Art, Inc.
• Adelante Latina!
• Art with A Heart
• Associated Catholic Charities, Inc.
• Baltimore Curriculum Project
• Baltimore Montessori Public Charter School
• Baltimore SquashWise
• Baltimore Youth Arts
• Banner Neighborhoods Community Corporation
• BellXcel
• Beyond The Natural Foundation, Inc.
• Bon Secours of Maryland Foundation, Inc.
• Boys & Girls Clubs of Metropolitan Baltimore
• Bridges Baltimore
• BYKE Collective
• Camp Puh'tok for Girls and Boys, Inc.
• CASA
• Children's Peace Center
• Civic Works
• Code in the Schools
• Community Law in Action
• Dent Education
• Digital Harbor Foundation
• Elev8 Baltimore
• Enoch Pratt Free Library
• Green Street Academy
• Harlem Lacrosse - Baltimore
• Holistic Life Foundation
• Inheritance, Inc.
• Intersection of Change, Inc.
• Johns Hopkins Centro SOL
• KEYS Empowers, Inc.
• Koinonia Baptist Church
• Liberty Elementary School
• Little Flowers Early Childhood and Development Center
• Living Classrooms Foundation
• Macedonia Life Community Development Corporation
• Medical Education Resources Initiative for Teens (MERIT)
• Middle Grades Partnership
• Mindful Mentors Inc.
• Mount St. Mary's University
• Muse 360 Arts
• National Aquarium, Inc.
• Next One Up
• P.O.P. (Play on Purpose) Inc.
• Parks & People Foundation
• Patterson Park Public Charter School, Inc.
• PeacePlayers
• Port Discovery Children's Museum
• Project Pneuma
• Rosemont Community Interfaith Coalition, Inc
• Sisters Circle
• Sisters Saving the City Inc.
• Soccer Without Borders
• Springboard Collaborative
• St. Francis Neighborhood Center
• St. Veronica Roman Catholic Congregation, Inc.
• St. Vincent de Paul of Baltimore
• Strong City Baltimore
• The Baltimore Youth Alliance, Inc.
• The Curtis Bay Judy Center
• The Downtown Sailing Center
• The Urban Alliance Foundation, Inc.
• The Webb Group, Inc. Educational Learning Center
• Unified Efforts Inc.
• University of Maryland Baltimore Foundation, Inc.
• Village Learning Place
• Wide Angle Youth Media
• Women in Transition
• Y in Central Maryland
• Young Audiences of Maryland/Arts for Learning

 This is the sixth year of summer youth funding provided by the Collaborative. Last summer, the Collaborative provided over $3.4 million in funding throughout Baltimore City and served more than 9, 671 students.