"Helping People Changing Lives"

Community Action Launches New Summer Program for Youth!

We’re thrilled to announce the Summer Program for Annapolis Middle School Students! Whether the students are budding explorers, aspiring artists, or sports enthusiasts, we have something extraordinary in store for everyone.

The Summer Program will serve the children and families of Annapolis Middle School through a pilot program entitled Provision of Wraparound Services using the Whole Family Approach (WFA) for 25 families or 50 students.

All children of the Provision of Wraparound Services using the Whole Family Approach will receive tier 1 services (universal promotion/prevention), tier 2 services (early intervention), and families that are identified or self-select will be referred to tier 3 services (treatment).

The Summer Program is a treat for the community. We are offering free transportation, free breakfast, and free lunch for the students, in addition to an outstanding curriculum.

The 6-week program incorporates Affirmations/Journaling and Yoga Mindfulness sessions to promote a positive start each day. 

Participants are taught to be Trauma-informed and develop 21st-century skills through evidence-based programs rooted in social learning and self-efficacy theories. Students engage in 5 days of morning workshops and weekly field trips or experiential in-building activities, enriched by speakers' experiences. The capstone Group/Personal project enables students to share their growth and impact, showcasing their potential as future leaders.

Major Program Components 

Social-Emotional Skills Development: focuses on five key components of social-emotional learning: self-awareness, self-regulation, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making.   

Trauma-Resilience Education: prioritizes Trauma-Resilience education as a foundational aspect of students' development. Through evidence-based practices and guided sessions, students will learn about trauma-informed approaches, coping mechanisms, and resilience-building strategies

Exposure to 21st Century Skills/Careers: Through guest speakers and field trips to local businesses and organizations, students will gain exposure to a wide range of 21st-century career opportunities.   

We will kick off with a virtual Meet & Greet for the families and stakeholders on Thursday, June 20, 2024, at 6:00 p.m. and the summer program runs from June 24, 2024, to August 2, 2024. The sessions are Monday through Friday, from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. The summer program will be located at The St. Philip’s Episcopal Church/Great Hall.  

We are excited to provide and contribute to an unforgettable summer for the students.

Energy Assistance Launches FY2025 Program on July 1, 2024

June is a very busy time for our Energy Assistance staff, as they wrap up FY2024 while continuing to serve clients facing energy cut-offs. The last day to apply for services during FY2024 is June 30, 2024. The new program year launches on Monday, July 1, 2024. All program customers can apply again, even if they applied during the past couple of months. 

Community Action encourages customers to fill out their application and upload the required documentation online at www.aaccaa.org. Residents are also welcome to visit our two full-service offices located at 251 West Street, Annapolis and 163 Global Way, Linthicum to fill out an application and turn in documents. Required documents include: Government-issued photo ID of the applicant, Social Security cards for all members of the household, a copy of your utility bill, and paycheck stubs for all household members for the past thirty days.

We appreciate the hard work of our Energy Assistance program staff members. Earlier this month, they assisted a resident from South County whose electricity service had been disconnected. With assistance from OHEP and BGE our client’s bill, which was over $5,000, was reduced to $538 to have his services restored. Our Energy director worked with BGE to assist the elderly client with the restoration of his energy services. Our client was very gracious and thankful for the hard work Community Action’s team did to assist him in an urgent manner.

Early Head Start Hires New Staff and Has Additional Teaching Opportunities Open

As Community Action’s Early Head Start program ends one school year and plans for the next, we are excited to announce the hiring of three new teachers! This will enable the Early Head Start Center to add additional classrooms and enroll children from the waitlist.

The Center continues to seek qualified and quality early childhood teachers who love children and want to work with a team of caring professionals in our bright and beautiful center in Edgewater. The qualifications to care for Early Head Start children, ages 6 weeks through 3 years of age, include the 90-hour Child Growth and Development and 45-hour Infant and Toddler certificates. All EHS teachers also need the Infant and Toddler Child Development Associates (DCA), and the Agency can provide tuition assistance and support while you work! 

Fully qualified teachers who sign on with the Early Head Start center for one year may be considered for an incentive bonus. Interested? Call the Center at 443.951.5553 for more information or apply through Indeed or the Community Action website.

Do You Know High School Graduates Without a Plan for Next Year?

The Community Action Agency is excited to announce we will be a Host Site for the Service Option Program beginning September 11, 2024!

If you are looking for a way to serve your community, consider joining Maryland's new Maryland Corps/Service Year Option. The program offers a year of professional growth and career exploration where participants can earn a living wage, gain new skills, and identify where their talents and purpose intersect, all while serving your community with fellow Marylanders!

Benefits of the program include:

·      Full-time service opportunity for at least nine months

·      Earn $15/hr or more

·      Receive an additional $6,000 Completion Award at the end of the program

·      Match with an employer in their field of interest

·      Gain on-the-job training, mentoring, professional development, and exposure to employers and colleges across the State

·      Opportunity to enroll in a registered apprenticeship pathway and earn a federally recognized credential.

To apply and learn more about the Service Option Program, please click here or visit serve.maryland.gov.

Early Head Start Staff Attend Maryland Family Network Conference

Early Head Start’s new teachers and seasoned staff enjoyed being together with over 200 other childcare professionals at this year’s spring conference sponsored by Maryland Family Network. The conference was held on May 29-30, 2024, at the Maritime Conference Center with the theme “From Caterpillar to Butterfly: Transforming Early Education." Staff was provided an opportunity to hear two outstanding keynote speakers.

Crystal Bennett presented “When We Know Better… We Do Better: Moving from Transactional to Transformational Services” which challenged attending organizations to dismantle systems to embrace diversity, inclusion, and equity. Math activist Oma Moses presented “A Family Math Journey”, which touched on the power of exposing children to playful math using the community as a classroom.

Community Action Embraces Second Chances

Turnaround Thursday (TAT) staff members initially met Mr. D. at the Ordnance Road Detention Center, where he participated in and graduated from Turnaround Thursday training. When he was released from the detention center, he had nowhere to go and was facing homelessness. Community Action agreed to place him in a hotel while they strategized next steps for Mr. D.

While he was in the hotel, Mr. D. came into the Agency daily to volunteer. He hung pictures and posters, assembled office furniture, and assisted staff members in whatever capacity was needed. The TAT team stay engaged with him and he was required to complete multiple tasks, including taking the 7 Habits training, and obtaining employment.

Shortly after Mr. D. was placed in a hotel, the Agency obtained our first transitional home. He was fortunate to be one of the first to occupy the new space. He assisted TAT staff members with decorating the new house, making sure everything was placed exactly right. He moved in with several program participants following. He was later given the opportunity to manage the house.



While working with Mr. D., TAT staff learned he did not have a Maryland identification card, which was a barrier to obtaining a job and services. He also had complications with opening a bank account, obtaining healthcare, and SNAP. The Agency assisted him with obtaining the documents needed to receive healthcare and SNAP. The ID card later became a top priority, with a TAT staff member taking him to the MVA, where they encountered another barrier: Mr. D. had to prove who he was because his identity was stolen.

After sitting at MVA for hours, Mr. D. learned about the steps he needed to take to get the process started to “reclaim” his identity. He learned that not only was his identity stolen, but the predator has also committed extensive crimes using his name. It took months to resolve the issue, working with the MVA and three other states, legal authorities, and endless phone calls and emails. He was finally able to get his ID card and immediately took the test to get his driver’s learners permit and passed. The TAT collaborated with him to register for driver’s education classes, which he just completed a week ago!

Today, Mr. D not only has his Maryland ID card, but a Maryland Driver’s License, employment, health insurance and a bank account. His next goal is to obtain a vehicle through Vehicles for Change.

Mr. D. has expressed his gratitude to the Agency and the TAT team for their assistance at helping him reenter and start on his pathway to success. He calls the Agency staff his family and shared his thanks during a TAT graduation at Ordnance Road Detention Facility with the County Executive in attendance, where he also received a citation.

Mr. D. we are behind you every step of your journey!

School Students in Homelessness: “You’ve Got to Keep Going”

Two brothers with big dreams were among the 1,286 students in Anne Arundel County Public Schools – nearly 1.4% of the overall student body – identified as having lived homeless during the 2023-2024 academic year. Most of those with no permanent address, including the two brothers, spent night after night at the home of a relative or friend, often on a couch. The others took refuge in a shelter, campground, car, or a motel or hotel. Some lived like this for a day, week, or month. 

The brothers were among those who did it month after month, living with one relative and then another. One brother suffered from anxiety. Both brothers, along with their parents, had difficulty sleeping.

“I never imagined in a million years that we would be homeless,” says their mother. “Life suddenly changed for all of us. We lived out of bags and suitcases. Our boys had a lot of tough days. Their privacy was stripped away. They had no place to relax.

The family became homeless after their landlady said she was going to sell the townhouse they rented rather than extend their lease. It happened amid other misfortunes, including the mom and dad losing their jobs and the entire family contracting COVID-19.

With the school system’s support, the brothers enjoyed some normalcy, such as remaining in their respective schools – though it required up to four hours a day on multiple buses to get back and forth to class from relative’s homes.

“We made it a priority that they get to school each day,” their mom says. “We all had a lot of stress. But we got through it.”

With the help of a nonprofit and the father again working, the family is back in a rented home, ending more than seven months of homelessness. To the relief of their parents, the brothers kept up with their schoolwork and maintained their dreams of continuing their educations after high school.

Many students in homelessness see their dreams threatened or even crushed. This year, they had a lower graduation rate, 73 percent to 88 percent, and a lower attendance rate, 83 percent to 92 percent, than the overall student body. As of June 6, 2024, more than half of those in homelessness had been “chronically absent”, missing 18 or more days. The numbers added to life-long disadvantages: fewer are apt to attend college and land good-paying jobs. More are apt to experience joblessness as well as homelessness as adults. Their troubled status may be evident from the moment they arrive at school.

“Students who are sharing hotel space, sleeping in a shelter, or other inadequate accommodations are likely not coming to school well rested,” says Jennifer Laque, homeless education liaison for Anne Arundel County Public Schools. “Students who have experiences frequent moves may appear disengaged in class. The stress of frequent moves or experiencing an eviction can cause anxiety. Our goal is to offer stability in the school.”

As a member of the county Office of Pupil Personnel, Laque is on a statewide school system team that helps homeless children. They do this through the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, a federal law dating back to 1987 the mandates aid – from food, clothing, and school supplies to academic support and transportation.

Unhoused school children in Anne Arundel County are part of America’s growing homelessness. On one winter night last year, more than 650,000 people were identified as homeless nationwide, a 12 percent increase over 2022, an annual federal tally showed. This growth is attributed largely to a shortage of affordable housing and a cut in COVID-19 financial aid.

Many – but far from most – at-risk Maryland children may get or be able to keep permanent housing next school year. Legislation passed by the 2024 Maryland Assembly and signed into law by Gov. Wes Moore is designed to ease the state’s housing crisis by targeting the chief causes of homelessness, beginning with the lack of affordable housing. They also created the Rental Assistance for Community School Families Program. It will provide $5 million for rental assistance for other in danger of eviction.

The Maryland Eviction Prevention Funds Alliance, composed of dozens of groups, had a study conducted that found that the state would need to spend about $40 million annually to stop the eviction of 15,000 families, which nearly matches the number of Maryland public school children identified in homelessness during the 2022-23 school year, 14,429.



The mother of the two brothers offers this advice to parents who lose their homes: “You’ve got to keep going. Don’t give up.”

The Community Action Agency of Anne Arundel County is highlighting the problem and challenge of homelessness with this, the fourth in a series of articles on the issue that will be featured in our monthly newsletters. We are delighted to work with Tom Ferraro, a new volunteer with the Agency, who is a former news reporter with The Hagerstown (MD) Morning Herald, United Press International, New York Post, Bloomberg and Risiseuters. After he retired from daily journalism, he served with AmeriCorps VISTA, helping foster youth and those experiencing homelessness.

Community Action is On the Move!

The Community Action Agency knows it is important to meet people where they are. While we have full-service offices in both Annapolis and Linthicum Heights, many people find it difficult to access them. Each month, Community Action staff are at off-site locations and community events to meet with local residents and assist them with accessing services.

Here is where you will find Community Action through the end of July:

Thursday, June 20, 9 – 11 a.m.: St. James Parish, 5757 Solomon’s Island Road, Lothian

Friday, June 21, 10 a.m. – Noon: Severn Center, 1160 Reese Road, Severn

Saturday, June 22, 8:30 a.m. – 3 p.m.: Juneteenth Festival, Bates Athletic Complex, 935 Spa Road, Annapolis

Monday, June 24,11:30 a.m. – 2 p.m.: Edgewater Library, 25 Stepneys Lane, Edgewater

Wednesday, June 26, 11:30 a.m. – 2 p.m.: Brooklyn Park Library, 1 E. 11^th Ave., BP

Thursday, June 27, 9 – 11 a.m.: St. James Parish, 5757 Solomon’s Island Road, Lothian

Saturday, June 29, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.: Banneker Douglas Block Party, 84 Franklin St., Annapolis

Monday, July 7, 11:30 a.m. - 2 p.m.; Edgewater Library, 25 Stepneys Lane, Edgewater

Wednesday, July 11, 10 a.m. - noon; Brooklyn Park Library, 1 E. 11th Ave, BP

Thursday, July 12, 9 - 11 a.m.; St. James Parish, 5757 Solomon's Island Road, Lothian

Thurday, July 18, 9 - 11 a.m.; St. James Parish, 5757 Solomon's Island Road, Lothian Friday, July 19, 10 a.m. - noon; Severn Center, 1160 Reese Road, Severn

Monday, July 22, 11:30 a.m. - 2 p.m.; Edgewater Library, 25 Stepneys Lane, Edgewater

Wednesday, July 24, 10 a.m. - noon; Brooklyn Park Library, 1 E. 11th Ave, BP

Thursday, July 25, 9 a.m. - 11 a.m.; St. James Parish, 5757 Solomon's Island Rd, Lothian