Van Hollen, Cardin Announce Over $17 Million in Direct Investments for Greater Baltimore Region in Second FY24 Funding Package Legislation signed into law by President Biden

Today, U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen, a member of the Appropriations Committee, and U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (both D-Md.) announced $17,214,000 in direct federal funding for local projects in Baltimore City, Baltimore County, and Howard County in the fiscal year 2024 funding package passed by the Senate on March 23. These funds, included at the Senators’ request, support projects encompassing a wide array of local and regional priorities, ranging from supporting small businesses, to providing workforce training, to improving health care and other community services. The Senators successfully advocated for over $40 million in federal dollars directly for Maryland within the legislation, in addition to the over $160 million they secured in the initial funding package passed March 8. In total, the Senators secured over $200 million for local projects across the state for FY24. President Biden signed the second package into law on March 23, averting a partial government shutdown.

A full list of the funds included by Senator Van Hollen in both fiscal year 2024 appropriations legislation is here. A full list of the funds included by Senator Cardin is here.

“Delivering these direct federal funds for key local initiatives helps strengthen communities in the Baltimore region and across our state. These resources that Team Maryland worked to secure will help underserved small businesses and their owners succeed, improve health care services, equip workers with the skills for good-paying jobs, and more. We’re excited to see our local partners put these funds to work to benefit our communities by opening the door for new opportunities ranging from education, to health care, to workforce development in and around Baltimore,” said Senator Van Hollen.

“The bipartisan passage of the second FY24 spending package provides continued investment in Maryland that will help fund locally driven priorities and opportunities throughout the Baltimore region. Through Congressionally Directed Spending, Team Maryland is supporting programs that improve healthcare, expand education, workforce and business development opportunities and deliver key services for the community,” said Senator Cardin. “We are responding directly to the needs of Marylanders and remain committed to bringing new federal resources to our state.” 

The funding announced by the Senators includes:

1. $4 million for health care, including to expand mental, dental and behavioral health services in Baltimore.
2. $4.1 million for education and workforce development, including for the Goucher College’s Prison Education Partnership to help incarcerated individuals work toward a college degree and gain skills to help them successfully reenter their communities and reduce recidivism.
3. $6.2 million for small business development, including for Baltimore Community Lending to house and create a new business development and resource center for emerging companies; a business incubator and accelerator program for women entrepreneurs of color in Howard County; TEDCO’s efforts to help emerging biotech businesses partner with Maryland-based federal labs; Morgan State University’s efforts to support underserved entrepreneurs; and the Greater Baltimore Urban League’s entrepreneurship resource center.
4. $2.9 million for community services, including to plan for the construction of a new federal courthouse in Baltimore City; preserve archives and documents for inclusion in a new Museum of the Blind People's Movement; expand 4MYCITY INC’s food distribution program for families facing food insecurity and to expand the Agoge Project’s free youth extracurricular programs like boxing and Jiu Jitsu.

HEALTH CARE

Project Name: Baer School Health Suite
Applicant: William S. Baer School Partnership Board
Project Location: Baltimore City
Amount Awarded: $300,000
Description: The Baer School is a Baltimore City Public School that serves the city’s most critically disabled and medically vulnerable children. Funds will be used to remodel the health suite to serve students more effectively and provide care that will improve attendance.

Project Name: East Baltimore Medical Center Renovations
Applicant: Johns Hopkins Community Physicians
Project Location: Baltimore City
Amount Awarded: $750,000
Description: EBMC is in a medically underserved area of East Baltimore and demand has long exceeded capacity. Funds will be used to renovate the third floor of the medical center with additional clinical space to expand care delivery and access for local residents.

Project Name: Park West Health System Capital Expansion Project
Applicant: Park West Health System
Project Location: Baltimore City
Amount Awarded: $1,500,000
Description: This project will enable the expansion and the delivery of current health, dental, behavior and mental health services while integrating new disciplines such as psychotherapy and youth-specific behavioral services.

Project Name: Sinai Hospital Outpatient Cancer Center Modernization Project
Applicant: Sinai Hospital of Baltimore
Project Location: Baltimore City and County
Amount Awarded: $1,500,000
Description: The funds will be used to construct a new, consolidated, outpatient cancer center to serve as the flagship location for the Alvin & Lois Lapidus Cancer Institute. The new facility will allow for expanded access, more streamlined delivery of care and better patient outcomes.

EDUCATION AND WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT

Project Name: Art with a Heart Out-of-School Time Initiatives
Applicant: Art with a Heart
Project Location: Baltimore City
Amount Awarded: $506,000
Description: The funds will be used to address the equity gap in visual arts education by offering a variety of services to the Baltimore community, including year-round engaging, culturally relevant, and educational core visual art programs to under-resourced Baltimore area children, youth.

Project Name: Bright Futures and Family-Sustaining Careers for Baltimore City Residents
Applicant: Civic Works Inc.
Project Location: Baltimore City
Amount Awarded: $788,000
Description: The funds will expand access to family-sustaining career pathways for Baltimore City youth, young adults, and adults from historically marginalized communities over the next two years.

Project Name: Creative Nomads "Where Art Starts" Youth and Family Program
Applicant: Creative Nomads
Project Location: Baltimore City and Baltimore County
Amount Awarded: $80,000
Description: The funds will provide arts education experiences designed to help children, their parents, and community members to connect on a meaningful personal level.

Project Name: Historic Preservation Workforce Development
Applicant: The Peale Center for Baltimore History and Architecture, Inc.
Project Location: Baltimore City
Amount Awarded: $420,000
Description: The funds will be used to invest in the necessary infrastructure and expertise needed for the workforce development program at The Peale Center to scale up its historic preservation curriculum and activities and address the urgent need for new entrants to the preservation trade.

Project Name: Increasing Educational Opportunities and Employment Skills for Goucher Prison Education Partnership Students
Applicant: Goucher College
Project Location: Baltimore County
Amount Awarded: $355,000
Description: The Goucher Prison Education Partnership helps incarcerated individuals work toward a college degree and gain skills to help them successfully reenter their communities and reduce recidivism. Funds will expand the program to serve additional students and decrease the time to graduation.

Project Name: Maritime Skills Workforce Development Program
Applicant: Living Classrooms Foundation
Project Location: Baltimore City
Amount Awarded: $883,000
Description: The funds will be used to pilot a workforce training program for underserved youth and unemployed adults with barriers to employment. Participants will receive training on vessel operations and water safety and receive certifications, employment placement assistance, and follow-up services.

Project Name: OrchKids Inventory Expansion
Applicant: Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Project Location: Baltimore City
Amount Awarded: $249,000
Description: The funds will expand OrchKids to an additional centrally located “hub” site in Baltimore City, increasing the number of students served by an additional 125 students, and reducing the need for older students to rely on lengthy commutes.

Project Name: Reading is Fundamental Literacy Program
Applicant: Reading is Fundamental
Project Location: Baltimore City
Amount Awarded: $500,000
Description: The funds will be used for a partnership with Baltimore City Public School District to provide books, a lending library at each participating school, and free digital library access to students in pre-K through middle school to improve student literacy.

Project Name: SpringForward Farms: An Employee-Owned Solution for Adults with Behavioral Health Needs
Applicant: SpringForward
Project Location: Baltimore City
Amount Awarded: $307,000
Description: SpringForward Ventures incubates new businesses that will convert to employee-ownership once sustainable. Funds will be used to train managers and growers in agricultural and business skills so they can become employee owners of a farm.

SMALL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

Project Name: Baltimore Community Lending Business Development and Resource Center Program
Applicant: Baltimore Community Lending
Project Location: Baltimore City
Amount Awarded: $500,000
Description: Funds will be used to provide technical assistance and coaching services to launch emerging businesses that will provide much needed consumer products and services, create new local jobs, and strengthen the economic foundation of communities in Baltimore.

Project Name: Baltimore Community Lending Business Development and Resource Center Site Development
Applicant: Baltimore Community Lending
Project Location: Baltimore City
Amount Awarded: $1,000,000
Description: Funds will be used to fit-out a new space for the Business Development and Resource Center and co-working space to support new and emerging small businesses in Baltimore City. The center will be a one-stop-shop for training, support, and access to resources.

Project Name: Exploring, Transitioning and Building with The 3rd
Applicant: The 3^rd
Project Location: Howard County
Amount Awarded: $500,000
Description: Funds will be used to establish a business incubator and accelerator program for women of color entrepreneurs that includes capacity building, networking, and access to capital opportunities. The 3rd will serve entrepreneurs in the Baltimore-Washington region in all fields and stages of business.

Project Name: Federal Lab Leveraging Innovation to Products (FLLIP) Pilot Program
Applicant: Maryland Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO)
Project Location: Howard County
Amount Awarded: $1,150,000
Description: Funds will help small, underrepresented healthcare and biotech businesses in Maryland form productive partnerships with the state’s more than 70 federal labs, enabling them to develop innovative solutions to healthcare challenges and grow their businesses and our economy.

Project Name: Government Certifications Contracting & Match Making Solutions Center
Applicant: Morgan State University Foundation Inc. Baltimore Metropolitan Women's Business Center
Project Location: Baltimore City
Amount Awarded: $700,000
Description: Women-owned businesses, including those owned by veterans and women of color, are underrepresented in government federal, state, and local contracting. Funds will be used to provide technical assistance and coaching to help these businesses successfully access contracting opportunities.

Project Name: Raymond V. Haysbert Center for Entrepreneurship Small Business Support
Applicant: Greater Baltimore Urban League
Project Location: Baltimore City
Amount Awarded: $850,000
Description: Funds will support the expansion of the Raymond V. Haysbert Center for Entrepreneurship, which provides education, instruction, and technical and management guidance for entrepreneurs to pursue a path to prosperity.

Project Name: RIDE (Returning Citizens Inspired to Develop Entrepreneurial Ventures) Entrepreneurship Resource Center
Applicant: Morgan State University
Project Location: Baltimore City
Amount Awarded: $1,500,000
Description: Funds will establish a new center for entrepreneurship and leadership training for formerly incarcerated individuals, empowering them to start their own businesses and become community leaders. By providing training and support, the center will incubate new businesses and reduce recidivism.

COMMUNITY SERVICES

Project Name: Baltimore Courthouse
Applicant: General Services Administration
Project Location: Baltimore City
Amount Awarded: $1,500,000
Description: The existing Edward A. Garmatz Courthouse is unable to meet the long-term space, safety, and security needs of the courts currently housed within the facility. Funds will be used to support site acquisition and design work for a new courthouse.

Project Name: Museum of the Blind People's Movement
Applicant: National Federation of the Blind
Project Location: Baltimore City
Amount Awarded: $301,000
Description: The Museum of the Blind People's Movement will be the first museum owned and operated by the blind in the US and will be a national platform to explore the struggles and successes of the blind as individuals and a movement. Funds will preserve archives and documents for inclusion in the museum.

Project Name: Out-of-School Programming for Baltimore City Students
Applicant: The Agoge Project
Project Location: Baltimore City
Amount Awarded: $75,000
Description: Agoge Project volunteers provide free extracurricular activities for Baltimore City middle and high school students in the Belair- Edison and surrounding community. Funds will be used to introduce a new robotics class and expand sewing instruction, boxing, Jiu Jitsu, and other programs.

Project Name: Zero Waste to Zero Hunger
Applicant: 4MYCITY INC
Project Location: Baltimore City and Baltimore County
Amount Awarded: $1,000,000
Description: The funds will expand the Food Rescue to Go! program that collects surplus food and distributes it to families facing hunger. Most of the rescuing, sorting, and bagging of food is done by paid trainees and deliveries are done by DoorDash drivers, creating jobs and preventing hunger in the community.