BALTIMORE — No data to detect fraud, no money to administer snap benefits or food stamps.
Governor Wes Moore suggests there’s more to the feds’ demand that the state hand over recipients’ birth dates, Social Security numbers and legal status than meets the eye.
WATCH: Maryland governor lauds program to combat child poverty
“The problem is this is a manufactured ask that the federal government is doing,” said Moore, “We’re already cooperating with the federal government. We already make sure that we have very clear lines of transparency about our recipients, about where the need is and making sure that they get their legal authority on the need.”
The governor launched the second year of his “ENOUGH” initiative in Baltimore on Thursday---a program, which pre-dated President Trump’s second term, allowing the state to ask struggling communities how they could best be benefited in trying to combat child poverty.
In its second year, the ENOUGH program will hand out 28 grants and that comes at a cost of about 18 million dollars to Maryland taxpayers.
Those grants help with everything from housing and health to education and crime reduction programs spanning the state.
A new program in Northeast Baltimore, for example, will allow Mervo High School students to expand their apprenticeships.
“With our community partners, we’re advancing a shared vision of what true community collaboration looks like up here in Northeast Baltimore,” said Y in Central Maryland CEO John Hoey who oversees the grants in his community.
Before he ran for governor, Wes Moore made a name for himself fighting poverty, and with or without federal support, the ENOUGH initiative may yet emerge as his legacy here in Maryland.
“By doing it through the Governor’s Office of Children and really using data to be able to determine how those funds are going to be distributed and what becomes the societal return on that investment, we feel there’s not just clear lines of accountability, but it’s also a pretty innovative take on how we look at grant funding for our organizations,” said Moore.
