With the opening of Our Daily Bread Employment Center next Thursday, Catholic Charities hopes to reduce unemployment and break the cycle of poverty in Baltimore City through a holistic, comprehensive approach.
The new center will offer a myriad of services to help ex-offenders, the homeless and disenfranchised individuals escape the cycle of poverty.
“We are writing the ultimate turn-around story here,” said Harold Smith, executive director of Catholic Charities, in a statement. “Those who are supporting us in this bold effort recognize that providing opportunities for people to turn from lives mired in chronic poverty to lives of self-reliance through employment and stable housing, is worth the investment in people and in the economic impact they will make on Baltimore.”
Programs offered at the center will include employment assistance, adult education and homeownership workshops.
“The programs and services that will be offered at the center will have an immediate and sustained impact on the lives, well-being and financial status of hundreds of city residents,” said Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon. “This will provide a model for others to follow.”
The center will coexist with three other Catholic Charities programs ? the Our Daily Bread daily hot meal program; Christopher Place Employment Academy, a residential program for formerly homeless men aimed at employment and permanent housing; and Maryland Re-entry Partnership, a program that will enable ex-convicts to successfully reintegrate into society.
Officials expect over 350 people to be employed every year as an outgrowth of matriculating through the program. They are expected to contribute more than $6.5 million in annual wages to the city?s tax base and child support system.
City officials tapped Catholic Charities to head up this initiative in 2002 based on its success with the other three programs at the facility, located at 725 Fallsway.
Funding was provided from individuals, corporations, foundations, state, federal and city dollars. Construction and furnishings for the new site were approximately $15 million.
