Baltimore's Ahavas Chaim Awarded $500,000 Grant from Baltimore City

By BJLife Newsroom
Posted on 10/05/22

Baltimore, MD - Oct. 5, 2022 - Today, Mayor Brandon M. Scott announced the fourth round of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) grant awards from the Mayor’s Office of Recovery Programs (MORP) to nonprofit organizations focused on community development, including affordable housing, youth services, small business support, and arts and culture.

“These organizations fill in the gaps and support our communities in ways that local government can’t. Baltimore is stronger when we work in partnership with our nonprofit community,” said Mayor Brandon M. Scott. “As we emerge from the pandemic, it is essential that we use this as an opportunity to reinvigorate our city collaboratively and intentionally – which is what these investments are all about.”

The awards – totaling just over $15.8 million to 12 different organizations – span the Scott Administration's priority pillars outlined in the Mayor’s Action Plan, including building public safety, equitable neighborhood development, prioritizing our youth, and clean and healthy communities.

The first three rounds of funding through the Mayor’s Office of Recovery Programs awarded 32 nonprofits with grants totaling just over $27 million. The grant funding from the Recovery Office to nonprofits in this latest round brings the total number of nonprofits to 44 and the total amount of funding to just over $42.8 million out of the City’s $641 million ARPA allocation.

Baltimore is one of few cities across the country to directly allocate ARPA funds to local nonprofits.

City and quasi-government agencies that have already made ARPA awards to nonprofits for either direct economic relief or specific initiatives include: the Baltimore Civic Fund, the Mayor’s Office of Employment Development, the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement, and the Baltimore City Health Department. In addition to ARPA, the City of Baltimore has supported nonprofits through other federal funding sources to respond to the COVID-19 public health emergency, such as the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

The selected nonprofit recipients are as follows:

Ahavas Chaim, Inc., will receive $500,000 to provide rent and housing security deposit support to residents impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Funding will also permit Ahavas Chaim to make facility improvements to their existing center which will allow for increased services designed to provide mental health, career, academic, and socioemotional support to at-risk teens and young adults in Baltimore