Baltimore Receives Federal Grant to Connect  Juvenile Offenders with Education, Community Service Opportunities

The U.S. Department of Labor recently awarded MOED a grant totaling $1.46 million through the Civic Justice Corps program to help young adults who have been recently involved in the juvenile justice system reconnect with their communities and find pathways to success through community service and educational opportunities.

The grant is allowing MOED to operate a three-phase, 32-week Civic Justice Corps (CJC) for 100 juvenile offenders – primarily
18-year-olds who reside in West Baltimore. Program operations began in November, with participants recruited through the juvenile justice system’s diversion and alternative sentencing programs, as well as correctional facilities and detention centers.

Youth Opportunity (YO!) Baltimore, a well-established MOED program that has been serving disconnected, out-of-school  youth for over a decade, provides the foundation for the CJC project. The Mayoral Youth Cabinet, comprised of the directors of the city’s workforce development, human services and juvenile justice agencies, is providing coordination and oversight support to the project.

The CJC implementation team began working with the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhoods and 12 community groups last summer to identify meaningful community service projects that would benefit Westside communities. These projects include upgrades to area parks, hiking trails, streams, playgrounds and common areas; graffiti removal and vacant lot cleanup; and support for the maintenance of area community centers and meeting places.

The overall goal of the program is to help participants cultivate the habits of responsible citizenship and not engage in criminal activity. 

“We are extremely grateful to the U.S. Department of Labor for its support of Baltimore and its citizens,” said MOED Assistant  Director Ernest Dorsey. “Through this grant we are able to directly impact the lives of 100 young people from West Baltimore, but the effects of this program will ripple far beyond these individuals and these neighborhoods to benefit our city as a whole.”

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