Under Armour and CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield Join Funders to Support Summer Programs for Baltimore Youth

Now in its third year, the Bal­ti­more Sum­mer Fund­ing Col­lab­o­ra­tive has wel­comed two new grant mak­ers to the table. Under Armour and Care­First Blue­Cross BlueShield (Care­First) are join­ing nine of Baltimore’s largest char­i­ta­ble and non­prof­it orga­ni­za­tions to sup­port high-qual­i­ty sum­mer pro­grams for the city’s chil­dren and youth in low-income families.

The col­lab­o­ra­tive — which also includes the Abell Foun­da­tion, The Annie E. Casey Foun­da­tion, Clay­ton Bak­er Trust, Fam­i­ly League of Bal­ti­more, France-Mer­rick Foun­da­tion, The Har­ry and Jeanette Wein­berg Foun­da­tion, Joseph & Har­vey Mey­er­hoff Fam­i­ly Char­i­ta­ble Funds, Lock­hart Vaugh­an Foun­da­tion and The Mor­ton K. and Jane Blaustein Foun­da­tion — will pro­vide more than $2 mil­lion in support.

Last year, 94 Bal­ti­more pro­grams received grants and more than 12,000 young peo­ple were served. The group hopes to increase these num­bers and expand oppor­tu­ni­ties for young peo­ple across the city. To be con­sid­ered, pro­grams must pro­mote aca­d­e­m­ic, social and emo­tion­al growth in chil­dren and youth and be inclu­sive of stu­dents of all abilities.

Many youth and young adults in Bal­ti­more lack access to activ­i­ties — aca­d­e­m­ic, recre­ation­al, enrich­ment or work expe­ri­ence — that keep their minds engaged over the sum­mer. As a result, they expe­ri­ence ​“sum­mer slide,” los­ing one to three months of knowl­edge and skills gained dur­ing the pre­vi­ous school year.

Despite their indi­vid­ual mis­sions and pri­or­i­ties — which include lit­er­a­cy, health and well­ness, sci­ence, tech­nol­o­gy, engi­neer­ing and math, youth employ­ment, col­lege and career readi­ness, envi­ron­men­tal edu­ca­tion, sports and the arts — all 11 mem­bers of the col­lab­o­ra­tive share the same goal: To reduce sum­mer learn­ing loss and ensure more youth have the chance to reach their full poten­tial dur­ing the sum­mer and beyond.

The fun­ders will use a com­mon appli­ca­tion dur­ing the selec­tion process. Three com­mu­ni­ty forums will be held, pro­vid­ing poten­tial appli­cants with an oppor­tu­ni­ty to raise ques­tions and hear direct­ly from col­lab­o­ra­tive members.

• Fri­day, Jan. 27
  9 a.m. to 11 a.m.
  Parks & Peo­ple Foun­da­tion, Stone House Building
  2100 Lib­er­ty Heights Avenue
   
• Tues­day, Jan. 31
  5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
  Fam­i­ly League of Baltimore
  2305 N. Charles Street, Suite 200
   
• Thurs­day, Feb. 2
  1 p.m. to 3 p.m.
  Enoch Pratt Library, Orleans Street Branch
  1303 Orleans Street

Appli­cants should meet the fol­low­ing gen­er­al eli­gi­bil­i­ty requirements:

• pro­vide a Cer­tifi­cate of Good Stand­ing with the state of Maryland;
• be an orga­ni­za­tion or sum­mer pro­gram that has oper­at­ed for at least two years;
• pro­vide proof of 501(c)(3) or 509(a) tax status;
• pri­mar­i­ly serve chil­dren and youth from low-income fam­i­lies who live in Bal­ti­more City; and
• have a plan to serve healthy meals if oper­at­ing more than four hours per day.

The dead­line for appli­ca­tions is 5 p.m. Fri­day, Feb­ru­ary 17, 2017. To learn more about each organization’s eli­gi­bil­i­ty cri­te­ria, and to access the appli­ca­tion, vis­it www​.aecf​.org/​s​u​m​m​e​r​g​rants.