The federal agency that administers AmeriCorps announced Friday that more than $4.4 million will go to support service projects in Baltimore City.
Combined with $3.8 million raised locally, more than $8 million will go towards funding more than 630 AmeriCorps members and Senior Corps volunteers to work on programs such as tutoring, energy conservation and providing foster grandparents for young offenders. The number of volunteers includes 105 that will start this summer.
Before the announcement in East Baltimore, AmeriCorps members spent hours adding plants and trees to a vacant lot at East Eager Street and North Montford Avenue. The lot is across from a grassy plot where row homes once stood next to the Amtrak tracks.
The greening is part of Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake’s Growing Green Initiative. She said it was meaningful to announce the additional funding in the Milton-Montford neighborhood.
“It shows what happens with the power of service and the power of community and that’s what AmeriCorps really stands for,” she said.
Projects that will have AmeriCorps members and Senior Corps volunteers includes developing a pilot program to help men and women in prison, place more Teach for America teachers in schools where students come from low-income households and to provide 25 additional foster grandparents who will spend time with youth after their time in detention.