BALTIMORE — Mayor Brandon M Scott and Baltimore Corps joined more than a dozen philanthropic partners and local and national programs to announce a $30 million campaign called the Campaign for Citywide Service. The 3-year campaign is designed to create thousands of full-time service opportunities in Baltimore City.
The Campaign for Citywide Service includes participation from national and local partners like the Mayor's Office and the City Council, marking it as one the largest national place-based efforts to enlist the community members to strengthen social and economic mobility. Especially for under-served groups within the city.
"With this announcement, Baltimore is truly 'the city that serves,'" exclaimed Fagan Harris, the president, and C.E.O. of Baltimore Corps. "We are proud to work with Mayor Scott, the City Council, as well as our local and national program partners to broaden and expand our definition of service to affirmatively include those returning home from incarceration, artists and activists, community health workers, and more. The campaign will not only change the lives of those who serve but the thousands impacted by their service."
The program will also partner with local anchor institutions such as Morgan State University and Coppin State University to bring the next generation of leaders into service.
Program partners include:
- Baltimore City Office of Information & Technology (B.C.I.T.)
- Catalyte
- Foster America
- FUSE Corp
- Government Performance Lab
- Healing City Baltimore
- HOPE Baltimore
- Johns Hopkins Medicine
- Lead for America
- Public Rights Project
- The People Lab
- Retrain America
C.E.O. of HOPE Baltimore and partner of the new city initiative, Antoin Quarles El expressed his optimism for the campaign, stating, "A chronic lack of resources has created the pathway to over incarcerate our communities…This will build a legacy of change and a community of hope."
The campaign is funded through a combination of public and private sources. One source coming in the form of a $1 million donation from the former chairman of T. Rowe Price, George Roche.
The Baltimore Corps and Baltimore City partnership wasn't the first of its kind. Both collaborated to create the Baltimore Health Corps, a public-private partnership that amassed nearly $15 million to hire over 300 contact tracers and care coordinators during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
For more information about Campaign for Citywide Service go to the Baltimore Corps's website.