Officials of the AmeriCorps service program on Friday announced $4.4 million in federal funding for service projects around Baltimore.
At an event attended by Mayor Stephanie Rawlings Blake - and which included work on a project of her Growing Green Initiative - the organization said funding will support programs that include tutoring youth, renovating and building new homes, mentoring ex-offenders, cleaning neighborhoods and teaching low-income families about nutrition.
The program will deploy some 630 AmeriCorps members and Senior Corps volunteers in the community, according to a statement from Corporation for National and Community Service, the federal agency that administers AmeriCorps. The federal funds are estimated to generate an additional $3.8 million in local support, officials said.
The Corporation for National and Community Service invested more than $17.6 million this year toward programs involving 2,024 AmeriCorps and Senior Corps volunteers serving at 339 locations across Baltimore.
Projects include a partnership with the Greater Homewood Community Corporation to implement a pilot program for men and women in the prison system; an outreach effort placing AmeriCorps as teachers in 115 schools for low-income students; and the Notre Dame Mission Volunteers Program, through which AmeriCorps members provide tutoring and small group instruction to disadvantaged K-12 students.
Additionally, the Senior Corps will work with the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services' Foster Grandparents Program to provide 25 additional foster grandparents and corps of volunteers who will serve youth beyond the time spent in a DJS facility.
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