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Final Drafts of BCF Projects (Education and Neighborhoods)

Date: 8/29/14
Education
8 a.m. Eight year old Sean Nelson pops up from his seat on the bus. He is so eager to begin his school
day he can hardly contain himself. As he motors towards his classroom he nearly collides with a
teacher. Sorry, Mrs. Teeter he quips while taking more calculated steps. In another school this pace
might indicate that an incentive or a special event is waiting for him inside his classroom. But Sean
moves this quickly to class every day. Hes just that excited to get there because his educational
experience is that awesome.
Morning Ms. Appleby, he sings his customary greeting. Every day she responds to him with the
enthusiasm of a teacher who is meeting her student for the first time. Its so great to see you, Sean,
she says. She tries to establish a sense of connection with her students by using carefully chosen words
and tone of voice. She knows all too well how feeling supported by ones environment can affect
performance. But Sean has moved on. He is now too captivated by his surroundings to focus on Ms.
Appleby.
It feels like the whole world is at his fingertips. Last month his class created a mural of South America.
This one joins a collection of others that showcase the many cultures he and his classmates explore on a
monthly basis. Though he has never left Baltimore City, each day he journeys to Brazil, South Africa,
Japan, China, Belize, etc. These virtual trips leave him feeling empowered because he can find himself
within the global story being told on the walls of his classroom. He doesnt care about the special
recognition his school received for creating an environment where achievement, diversity and inclusion
are celebrated. However the fact that he wont be criticized for being different from his classmates
because each student is made to feel like an integral part of the whole feels meaningful to him. Plus,
he doesnt have to worry that some of his African American peers will call him a nerd because he loves
school. Everyone is a nerd who loves school here.
Diversity of a different type is valued at Seans school, too. It has been designated by the State of
Maryland as a certified Green School. For Sean that means it is always abuzz with programs that
promote the value of protecting the Earths biodiversity. Students here lead projects in key categories
like recycling, plant classification and the planting of native plants. Environmentally sensitive
contractors teach students, parents, teachers and volunteers about green building materials that have
contributed to the buildings construction. Today, after recess, Sean will find out if the students in his
class will meet or exceed their goal for the schools sustainability challenge. A first place win means the
whole class gets to go on a tour of area botanical gardens and nature centers. Sean marvels at his
surroundings for one more moment, but he does not linger. He cant get too distracted. Ms. Appleby
has high expectations for students in her class. So he quickly unpacks and gets settled for the day
ahead.
Sean knows hes going to have another great day at school. What he cannot possibly understand is the
depth of behind the scenes work that continues to create the rich education he is experiencing. His
classroom reality has been orchestrated via an intricate web of resources and educational access
created by the Baltimore Community Foundation; a private community foundation created by the
community of Baltimore to serve the current and future needs of the Baltimore region. Representing the
common interests of a diverse pool of donors, BCF deploys grants, initiatives and advocacy to address
issues facing the region today, while building a civic endowment to address the needs of future
generations.
In the educational arena, BCFs three focus areas are helping to transform the ways in which children
like Sean experience education in Baltimore City. The academic terms for those areas are School
Leadership, School Effectiveness and School Readiness. And while they are very different in terms of
function, they all revolve around a few commonalities creating access to educational resources,
building deep relationships with educational entities and other philanthropic individuals and
organizations in the City, and advocating for the creation of more effective educational communities.
The first initiative listed here, School Leadership, directly impacts the quality of instruction and
mentorship students can expect to experience in school.
Take Ms. Appleby for example. She shows up every day in Seans world as a role model who encourages
him to do well in school. But one of the reasons Mrs. Appleby presents herself this way is because she
feels supported by her environment. Innumerable school officials, philanthropists and friends of BCF are
banding together to recognize her work and her desire to succeed. They have identified her as a
talented teacher who is worthy of investment through the School Leadership initiative a partnership to
produce good results for City School children through the placement of the highest quality school
leaders. BCF works in tandem with the city school district to provide support to its existing Great
Schools Program, and in the process helps to create a comprehensive pipeline to tap promising talent
and potential leaders develop their skills in preparation for careers as high quality school principals.
One of the reasons Sean loves school is because the quality of his education is regularly evaluated for
performance. BCFs advocates have been involved at the grass roots level in a new school effectiveness
review process with Baltimore City Schools, during which standards of performance are created to
explore everything from his schools climate, the quality of educational enrichment by community
partners, teacher development and the development of his principals (which relates to the school
leadership initiative). In fact, BCFs advocates even created greater outcomes for school effectiveness
by suggesting that the City School Board broaden its two day review process by adding a third day that
will give principals the opportunity to transform their survey results into road maps for success. The
current school year, 2014 2015, will mark the formal implementation of this third planning day in the
City.
BCFs advocates are even making life better for Seans three year-old brother, Will, who will enter school
ready to learn because of the Judy Center in his neighborhood that helps his parents create an
environment for learning at home. BCF hopes to make more strides in school readiness, by working
with a delegation of school officials, day care providers and advocates for early childhood education to
ensure that 90% of school children entering kindergarten are ready to learn by the year 2017. BCF has
been active in preparing for this goal through its work with Judy Centers community based centers in
low-income neighborhoods in the City where parents are able to receive preparedness information on
how to best educate their children. (To date, BCF has created three Judy Centers, and ____ are on their
way to completion by 2017).
This work is enriched by the fact that BCF is the only Community Foundation in the Baltimore area, (and
community foundations are the only philanthropic organizations period) who can lobby on behalf of
issues like education. So BCF lobbies in Annapolis, direct lobbies with policy makers and heads of state,
gives grants to individuals and organizations, communicates to media and the public about ideas and
solutions, builds relationships between public and private sectors, etc. to effect systemic change. This is
the behind the scenes work that shows up in Seans world as educational abundance. While he is
enjoying every day activities like changing classes and eating lunch BCFs advocates are working
tirelessly to secure the perpetuity of quality education in Baltimore for Sean and other kids across the
City.
This web of influence and activity sparks as a collective call to action that creates interest in BCF and its
work by others who choose to increase their investment in the work - individuals like parents, teachers,
volunteers, school board officials, local politicians, etc. This collective investment of time, talent and
treasure engages PTA involvement, involvement from school partners, neighborhood associations and
City citizens as a whole. And before you know it, those who believe in the value of quality education in
the City are standing together with BCF, going about the business of building solid communities who
ultimately impact every child and every home. A gift to BCF ignites a powerful engine for change in
Baltimore because no single organization can provide the entire answer for creating quality education in
Baltimore. Instead the solution must be shared.
This is how BCF leverages gifts, be they social capital or real money, to inspire others to create more
investments in their communities. But when you give to BCF, you also expand the vast web of resources
and relationship BCF is uniquely qualified to foster, due to its definition as a community foundation. A
gift to BCF translates to the creation of powerfully strategic solution in Baltimore City education.
So when you give $1,000 to BCF it cant be taken at face value. Before long it itself into tens of
thousands of dollars through the time, talent, and treasure of an inspired legion of advocates. And
before you know it, your gift to BCF pays residually on your investment over and over and over again
and across many platforms and playing fields.
[OVER THE YEARS, CAPITAL CAMPAIGN, HOW MANY SCHOOLS OVER TIME?]
3 p.m. Sean Nelson is packing up his books so that he can hurry home to complete his homework. Even
after this full day of educational enrichment, he cant know cognitively about BCFs vision for his
educational future. After all, the vision is comprised of too many woven threads. What he does know is
that he cant wait to get back to school tomorrow. And for Sean tomorrow is everything.
How can you help us create better tomorrows for more students like Sean?
Neighborhoods Piece
Miss Shirley Jones has been a resident of the 900 block of Whitelock Street for the past seventy-five
years. For many of those decades, she poured her blood sweat and tears into this block and her fellow
neighbors serving on the neighborhood watch committee, organizing block parties and picking up
trash from in front of other peoples houses. Yes, she has loved and lived on this block for a very long
time. In fact, she was born in her house which is on the corner. Shes always proud to tell people about
how it was purchased by her family back in the late 1930s even after they had barely survived the great
depression.
But on this cold morning, when Miss Shirley looks out of her living room window and over her block,
fond memories fade to harsh reality. The block has become a shade of former self. She remembers
how residents here used to spend hours washing their marble steps and keeping up their exteriors.
Now her block is unkempt and drug-infested. Deals are happening on every corner, especially hers, and
each time she walks outside she has to sweep crack vials from her steps. Some of her neighbors are
moving out. Others are becoming so disenchanted that they no longer see the point in keeping up their
properties.
Maybe I should just give up, too, she thinks to herself. After a few sullen seconds she remembers But I
cant do that. Where will I go, she asks herself. She cant afford the co-op apartment her daughter
wants her to move into.
As quickly as the thoughts about giving up rise up in her spirit, they are replaced by persistence. I will
not give up. I was born here, and I will die here, she resolves.
As she continues to ponder about her neighborhood woes, she notices a tenacious weed growing
through a cracked portion of concrete. In spite of the boarded-up crack houses surrounding it the weed
refuses to die. Its resilience gives Miss Shirley a bold idea.
Maybe there is someone out there who will help me get other people to care about my block again.
After a few moments, she remembers that Betty Wyatt, a lady who attends her church helped to secure
a Community Arts grant in tandem with some local arts organizations for her block on the East side. In
fact, they created a beautiful mural near the church last fall. The art work, a depiction of their collective
vision for the neighborhood, seems to inspire everyone in the community to take pride in their
neighborhood again. Betty told her that some neighborhoods even take advantage of Leadership Grants
to help them get the training they need to run more effectively.
So Miss Shirley decides to reach out to the organization that Betty told her about, the Baltimore
Community Foundation, to see what can be done about her neighborhood. She goes to their website
and finds out they offer a Mobilization Grant that will help her beautify a portion of her neighborhood
and applies. It might not totally change whats been going there. However, it might give some of the
residents there a glimmer of hope. Then, maybe more of them will think twice before giving up on her
Whitelock block.
Miss Shirley applies for the grant and forgets about the state of her neighborhood for a few months.
She is a bit distracted by a deluge of harsh weather and its historic snowfalls. But thats cooling these
drug dealers out any, she thinks to herself. But she forces herself to remain hopeful. And just before
spring breaks, an advocate from BCF contacts her. Her Mobilization Grant has been approved!
The neighborhood advocate from BCF shows up at her doorstep one crisp afternoon to give her all of
the tools she will need to mobilize residents to create a community garden. If she and her neighbors
move quickly, their community garden should be in bloom by June! Ms. Shirley is over the moon
someone has come along to help her do some good for her neighborhood. The garden will be a full
scale project that will cost $1,000 before everything is said and done. Thats a lot of money, she thinks
to herself. Hopefully some good will come of it.
When Miss Shirley gets the great news, there is no way she can understand the full effect that planting a
community garden can have on a block, a neighborhood, a community. But that spring, when flowering
plants begin to bloom, she sees firsthand how new life can lead a neighborhood to hope.
Instead of staying locked in their homes all day, some of the neighbors feel inspired to visit the garden
and to sit on the beautiful new benches situated around its perimeter. Within a few weeks she notices
that the residents are more reluctant to mix trash with daisies, so they organize neighborhood clean
ups, and begin to take better care of their own exteriors. Some of them even reinstitute their weekly
ritual of washing their marble steps. With all of this new neighborhood activity, drug dealers and their
customers become less willing to operate their open air trade markets. Little by little her block and its
surrounding areas start to look more like they used to like thriving corridors where happy people who
take pride in their community reside.
Sometimes Miss. Shirley holds court in that neighborhood garden and glories in everybodys stories
about how she saved the neighborhood. She dismisses them saying all she did was help to restore
quality of life. She knows she saved the neighborhood. But she can just keep that part to herself.
What Miss Shirley could not know is that while she has been a initiator of change, and her actions have
served as a spark that re-ignited interest in her community; a portion of her neighborhoods
transformation should credited to an army of people who have been working behind the scenes
advocating for blocks and neighborhoods like hers. This army of people, known as the Baltimore
Community Foundation, has been raising funds for neighborhoods all over the City. BCF is
private community foundation created by the community of Baltimore to serve the current and future
needs of the Baltimore region. Representing the common interests of a diverse pool of donors, BCF
deploys grants, initiatives and advocacy to address issues facing the region today, while building a civic
endowment to address the needs of future generations.
BCF creates safer, greener, cleaner communities through its work in neighborhoods via a variety of
means, including Grantmaking, Targeted Neighborhood work and the support of smaller initiatives that
are aligned with neighborhood goals.
When Miss Shirleys block received that grant for example, BCF, through its grant making initiative, sent
advocates out to her neighborhood to provide her and her neighbors with the necessary tools and
training they needed to build that garden. However, instead of preaching to Miss Shirley about how she
should accomplish her goal of building the garden, the advocates asked her about her vision for it. They
fully supported her ideas and dreams for her neighborhood. In essence, they created a framework
within which community engagement could grow just like the flowers of the garden. The return on
investment multiplied as soon as BCF gave the neighborhood grant. Creating the garden prompted her
neighbors to invest too in their block, their homes and themselves. Miss Shirley had no idea that
investing in that little garden would make such a difference.
BCF is the only Community Foundation in the Baltimore area (and community foundations are the only
philanthropic organizations period) who can lobby on behalf of issues like creating quality
neighborhoods. So BCF uses all of the tools in its philanthropic tool box state lobbying in Annapolis,
direct lobbying with policy makers and heads of state, grant making to individuals and organizations,
communicating to media and the public about ideas and solutions, relationship building between public
and private sectors, etc. - to effect systemic change. And in addition to creating public policy and
fundraising efforts to support this work, BCF also advocates to eradicate issues that challenge
neighborhoods from a legislative point of view.
Some of these issues may include high crime rates, challenges with making inclusive communities, and
conflicts between real estate developers and residents. For example, BCF is engaged in what is called
targeted neighborhood work in Highlandtown and in Reservoir Hill. Both neighborhoods were evaluated
by BCF and strategic partners like the University of Baltimore and the University of Maryland School of
Social Work. Their analyses were based on a host of rubrics that define strengths and weaknesses in
neighborhoods like walkability score, crime and context. Residents were also asked for their ideas to
bring their neighborhoods to a higher level. BCF then gave those residents plans for implementation
and worked with community organizers to complete the work that would raise each neighborhoods
performance in a variety of areas. Finally, BCF gave both Highlandtown and Reservoir Hill a $100,000
grant to accomplish the work that would transform the quality of life in each neighborhood.
On the surface $100,000 is a small amount of money, but the return on investment is much more
significant that the original gift. After BCFs investment neighbors and community organizations realize
their neighborhood is worthy of investment! In Highlandtown, the value it shows up in a fundraising
campaign where the neighborhood association, community organizers and others raised 1 million
dollars for 2014, and 1 million dollars for 2015. Now everyone who lives in the community feels a vital
part of its present and future transformation efforts. In Reservoir Hill after the neighborhood received
the $100,000 to better itself, it started looking for ways to make neighborhood institutions better, too.
Take for instance the once failing John Eager Howard Elementary School. The residents in the
neighborhood worked together to improve its performance and now the school is a model for
achievement.
In both instances the investment from BCF generated other investments. And in both cases, the return
was much more valuable than anyone could have imagined. While doing the work, BCF emphasized a
message of diversity and inclusion and promoted a culture where all residents and organizations, be
they faith-based, or transgender, neighborhood-based or of historical origin, feel that they are valued in
this neighborhood. And those feelings of inclusion trickled down to the residents and business owners
living there, who began to value the diversity of their neighbors anew.
In neighborhoods like these where BCF and its partners encourage residents to have a voice, a gift to
BCF creates an amplification system for that voice, allowing residents to speak more loudly through a
bullhorn to the rest of the City. Targeted neighborhood work can transform communities. This is why
BCF uses funds raised by donors to leverage other investments, be they social capital or real money.
The health of a neighborhood is comprised of so many important components. No single approach will
solve a neighborhoods problems efficiently. Instead, targeted neighborhood work requires many
collaborative entities to work together in an effort to create systemic change.
BCF will add two more neighborhoods to its agenda for targeted neighborhoods this year. But imagine
what could be done with more targeted funds for more neighborhoods. BCF and its community partners
are already transforming blocks across Baltimore one at a time through its grants program. Can you
imagine the possibilities if they had more funds to transform blocks like Miss Shirleys and more
neighborhoods like Highlandtown and Reservoir Hill?
Which brings us to your neighborhood. How will help us transform Baltimore?