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

Posted January 23, 2017
By the Annie E. Casey Foundation
Blog 2017summergrantsrelease 2017

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.

Popular Posts

View all blog posts   |   Browse Topics

Youth with curly hair in pink shirt

blog   |   June 3, 2021

Defining LGBTQ Terms and Concepts

A mother and her child are standing outdoors, each with one arm wrapped around the other. They are looking at each other and smiling. The child has a basketball in hand.

blog   |   August 1, 2022

Child Well-Being in Single-Parent Families