The South Baltimore Gateway Partnership (SBGP) is pleased to announce $455,326 in new grants to support 16 community projects in South and Southwest Baltimore neighborhoods. This sixth round of grant funding was highly competitive, attracting proposals totaling more than $1 million. Since September 2017, SBGP has invested over $11.4 million to advance over 240 community programs and projects through grants and other initiatives.
“Through competitive STEM teams, LET’S GO STEM Scholars with high interest and identity in STEM gain 21st century skills such as critical thinking, collaboration, and innovation,” said Debbie Dininno, Baltimore Regional Director of LET’S GO Boys and Girls, which received funding for after-school programming at Westport Academy. “South Baltimore Gateway Partnership will support LET’S GO’s initiative to provide the Westport Academy Maryland Science Team mentoring and hands-on STEM materials to engage students and prepare them for competition in Spring 2021.”
Pigtown Main Street was awarded grant funding to continue beautification efforts along the neighborhood’s commercial corridor. “Cleaning our city begins with individual action for collective clean communities,” says Rickey Deggranfreid. Every day as the Pigtown Main Street Clean and Green Ambassador, Rickey engages residents and business owners to be stewards of their community.
In addition to the projects described above, the projects receiving funds this cycle include:
• Improving outdoor spaces and playgrounds (Thomas Johnson Elementary Middle School PTO);
• Reducing food waste through youth-engaged food scrap collection for the Baltimore Compost Collective (Institute for Local Self Reliance);
• Expanding the Bird Ambassador project to Latinx families (Southwest Partnership);
• Purchasing a sonogram machine, a fetal monitor, and an electrosurgical generator to support the Maternal/Child Health Initiative (Family Health Centers of Baltimore Inc.); and
• Hosting weekly outdoor summer film screenings with accompanying workshops (American Visionary Art Museum).
A full list of newly funded projects is available here.
“Now more than ever, we need the grassroots work of neighborhood organizations to ensure the health and vitality of our community.,” said SBGP Executive Director Brad Rogers. “We are proud to invest in these neighborhoods, and excited to support organizations that are making a difference.”
In addition to these newly funded projects, SBGP continues to cultivate longer-term Transformational Projects for the district, including developing the Middle Branch into Baltimore’s next great waterfront and launching the upcoming Middle Branch Fitness and Wellness Center at Cherry Hill.
About the South Baltimore Gateway Partnership
SBGP was established in 2016 to help implement the South Baltimore Gateway Master Plan, a sweeping plan to improve neighborhoods near the Horseshoe Casino Baltimore, with funding provided by the Local Impact Grants generated by video lottery terminals. Under its Strategic Plan, SBGP works to improve the vitality of its communities by focusing on three crucial elements of the South Baltimore Gateway Master Plan: Community Development and Revitalization, Environmental Sustainability, and Health and Wellness. To achieve the agenda laid out in the Strategic Plan, SBGP has established three interrelated program areas: Community Grants, Enhanced Services, and Transformational Projects.
SBGP is not an agency of the City of Baltimore or the State of Maryland. It is governed by a Board of Directors comprised primarily of residents of the district and representatives of businesses located in the district.