Vision for growth

Founded in 1972, the Baltimore Community Foundation is the third largest grantmaker among Maryland charitable foundations. It is made up of more than 500 different charitable funds and has assets of $194 million. In 2008 the foundation distributed $28 million to hundreds of nonprofit organizations in the Baltimore region and beyond. The foundation’s vision for Baltimore is one that boasts a growing economy in which all people have the opportunity to thrive. The foundation seeks to accomplish this goal through Invest in Baltimore, a strategy that addresses the region’s challenges while building on its strengths, by combining economic development with poverty reduction. This vision includes a focus on older adults, who contribute so much to the vitality of the region. In 2006–2008, the foundation awarded $199,000 in grants to 10 Baltimore area nonprofit organizations that serve older adults.

Projected boom

Older adults represent a significant and growing population within the Baltimore region. According to the 2000 U.S. Census, adults 60 and over comprise nearly 20 percent of the city’s population. By 2030, Marylanders aged 60 and over will account for over 25 percent of the state’s population, up from 15 percent in 2000. This growth coincides with the projected retirements of federal government employees who work in nearby (40 miles) Washington, D.C. and its suburbs. African-Americans and other minorities comprise 55 percent of Baltimore seniors aged 65 and above. Nearly one in 10 older adult residents of Baltimore County is non-Caucasian. This diverse group of older adult residents forms the backbone of historic Baltimore neighborhoods.

Baltimore is blessed with diverse, active, and experienced older adults who set an example for the rest of us by being good neighbors and giving to their communities.

— Kevin Griffin Moreno

For more information

Baltimore Community Foundation
Kevin Griffin Moreno, Program Officer
410-332-4172 ext. 147

Improving neighborhood quality of life

Through its Neighbors in Deed initiative, Baltimore Community Foundation is working to foster meaningful civic engagement opportunities for older, low- and moderate-income residents of the Baltimore area.

The Initiative, developed as part of the foundation’s participation in Community Experience Partnership (CEP), draws on one of the more striking findings from the CEP assessment phase: the concern expressed by older adults that contemporary society no longer reflects the Depression era values of community and public service with which they had been raised. Further, in many communities, issues involving older adults tend to be seen as disconnected from issues that affect the lives of younger people. The focus of Neighbors in Deed is to engage and mobilize older adults to improve the quality of life in their neighborhoods.

Neighbors in Deed is designed as a three-year, multigenerational, neighborhood-based pilot program that will engage low- and moderate-income older adult residents in six Baltimore area communities as leaders working to improve the quality of life where they live. The Initiative seeks to match older adult participants aged 50 and above with local community-based organizations to generate and enhance meaningful volunteer and compensated service opportunities. Through the provision of technical assistance to individual participants and participating organizations, Neighbors in Deed will facilitate: the mobilization of older adults as leaders and advocates for their communities; the recruitment, retention, and recognition of older adult volunteers; and multigenerational engagement opportunities that will bring older residents together with children, youth, and adults to jointly address common community concerns.