OSI-Baltimore Invests $2.5 Million to Assist People with Criminal Records and Drug Dependency

BALTIMORE—The Open Society Institute-Baltimore is investing $2.5 million to help people in Baltimore's most distressed neighborhoods remain in addiction treatment, find jobs, obtain housing, and keep from returning to prison.

The investment will benefit close to 1,200 people living in East Harbor, Historic East Baltimore, Harlem Park/Lafayette Square, Poppleton, Sandtown-Winchester, and Washington Village Pigtown. Those are neighborhoods served by Empower Baltimore Management Corporation (EBMC), the nonprofit that oversees the Baltimore Empowerment Zone Program, which uses federal funding to create safe, healthy neighborhoods and economically self-sufficient residents.

The OSI investment, in the form of grants awarded to five nonprofit organizations, is supported by a $2.5 million grant that OSI-Baltimore received in late 2008 from EBMC. EBMC invited OSI-Baltimore to compete for some of its remaining federal funds because it found OSI's mission and proposed activities to be consistent with its own objectives.

The OSI grants will focus on people with criminal records and those who are battling addiction—two populations that EBMC recognized as important to assist and that OSI has served for more than a decade.

"The vicious cycle of poverty, unequal opportunity, addiction, incarceration and recidivism has reduced the quality of life for residents of these communities," said Diana Morris, director of OSI-Baltimore. "With these grants, we want to improve the chances for the most vulnerable city residents to build stable, healthy lives, realize their talents, become self-sufficient-and stay out of the criminal justice system."

The federal government chose the communities that comprise the Baltimore Empowerment Zone Program based on their level of poverty, unemployment, and general economic distress. Last year, more than 18 percent of those residents lived in poverty, and 16.5 percent were unemployed.

"These grants aim to break the cycles of addiction and recidivism by providing the targeted services people need to overcome the instability exacerbated by poverty, poor health, and limited work experience," Morris said. "By supporting community-based organizations with demonstrated commitment and success with this population, we will help residents in Empowerment Zones become productive members of their families and communities and reliable employees."

After a competitive process, OSI-Baltimore chose three organizations to receive grants of $375,333 each over three years to help reintegrate people with criminal records into the Empowerment Zone communities. The organizations provide services such as pre-release workshops, food and clothing, case management, life and job skills training, employment placement, and referrals to addiction treatment and public benefits agencies. The three organizations, which will serve about 300 people, are:

• The Episcopal Community Services of Maryland tackles severe poverty by providing support services and education to low-income families and individuals. The grant will support its Jericho Re-Entry Program, which provides mentoring, employment training and placement and other re-entry services to men newly released from prisons to rebuild their lives in the community.
• Living Classrooms Foundation provides educational and job training programs to youth and young adults. The grant will support its Project SERVE and Re-Entry Programs, which offer pre-release workshops, job-skills training and other services to male and female former prisoners who return to Baltimore.
• The Prisoners Aid Association of Maryland provides housing, case management, employment training and placement, food and clothing, family reunification and addiction counseling services to men and women who return to Baltimore communities from prison. 

OSI selected two organizations to help increase access to treatment and retain approximately 900 patients in treatment: 

• Baltimore Health Care Access helps eligible residents obtain comprehensive and coordinated healthcare services. The $1 million grant over three years will allow the organization to provide comprehensive case management services to 800 Empowerment Zone clients in addiction treatment services. Case workers will assist patients to move from one level of care to another and will help clients access a broad range of benefits and services—including health care, food stamps, energy assistance, childcare vouchers, and housing—with the goal of developing a support system that will motivate them to remain in treatment.
• Mental Health Policy Leadership and Training Institute aims to improve public mental health and addiction disorder services by bridging gaps among community needs, responsive service delivery systems, workforce development and research. The $60,000 grant will expand access to drug addiction treatment for 100 Empowerment Zone residents by integrating addiction services at a community mental health center.

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Founded by philanthropist George Soros, OSI-Baltimore is a private operating foundation that supports a grantmaking, educational, and capacity-building program to expand justice and opportunity for Baltimore residents. With support from a range of investors, its current work focuses on helping Baltimore's youth succeed, reducing the social and economic costs of incarceration, tackling drug addiction, and building a corps of Community Fellows to bring innovative ideas to Baltimore's underserved communities.