Baltimoreans United in Leadership Development (BUILD) wants Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake to schedule a meeting with them by April 21 or they’ll take things into their own hands.
The faith-based coalition of community activists wants to know why the mayor turned down a request for money to help run a transitional jobs program for ex-offenders in the Oliver neighborhood of East Baltimore. And they say she’s been stonewalling them.
“We were under the impression that we were moving forward with the plan,” said Melvin Wilson, coordinator of BUILD’s citywide jobs team.
The program, which would serve 50 ex-offenders, is projected to cost $1.7 million over three years; BUILD has raised $1.2 million of that. The organization submitted a proposal to the mayor for the remaining $594,000 in February, but never heard back from her until a letter arrived April 7 turning down the request.
Rawlings Blake wouldn’t discuss the specific reasons for rejecting the request at a news conference April 9, but she did respond to criticism of the action.
“The notion that I don’t support individuals who have been previously incarcerated in their efforts to find employment is inconsistent with the facts,” she said. She also said she doesn’t understand why the organization doesn’t go another step to get certified as a job training program by the Maryland Higher Education Commission.
But BUILD officials say they took the extra step by raising most of the money for the program on their own.
“We put $1.2 million on the table,” said Ojeda Hall, BUILD’s lead organizer. “We thought (the program) would be a model for what other neighborhoods can do.”
Anybody else who came up with that kind of money would get a meeting, she said.
But Rawlings Blake said it’s not a matter of whether or not she’s willing to meet, it’s that BUILD wants a check and she’s not willing to give them one. She said she’s met with the organization “too many times to count.”
“I’ve met with them (on their jobs proposal) and they know all they have to do is ask,” the mayor said. Yet she would not commit herself to scheduling a meeting with BUILD.
BUILD’s Wilson said they’re “waiting for another response,” but they won’t wait much longer.