ENOUGH Initiative

Originally Published: August 27, 2024

$111K in State Grants Sought

The Department of Aging & Human Services (DAHS) application for the ENOUGH Initiative was approved by the county commissioners last week, seeking $111K in state grant funds. In May 2024, Governor Wes Moore signed the Engaging Neighborhoods, Organizations, Unions, Governments, and Households (ENOUGH) Act to provide funding for “community-driven, cross-sector partnerships in communities with high rates of concentrated childhood poverty,” according to a memo from Lori Jennings-Harris, Director of DAHS.

Grant application documents detail proposed expenditures. Funds are awarded to the Local Management Board (LMB), and plans include: $3K to “host a training to increase local organizations’ Poverty IQ,” $100K to hold four “capacity building workshops,” and $8K for food at various meetings and workshops. Amanda Meatyard, LMB coordinator for DAHS, said the overall goal is facilitating workshops to strengthen local non-profits and provide pathways and opportunities for children to rise out of poverty. During the workshops, the LMB hopes to identify a “Community Quarterback” organization and develop a Neighborhood Action Plan.

County commissioners appoint volunteers to the LMB, charged with providing “advice and assistance concerning the responsibility for implementing a community-based, interagency, family-focused service delivery system for children, youth and families” according to the Board’s by-laws.

Meatyard said there were two categories of funding–competitive and capacity building. Commissioner Ostrow asked if St. Mary’s could receive additional funding, but the county doesn’t meet certain requirements. To receive a competitive award, a community must have at least 30% of children, and a community school with 80% of students, living in poverty. Within a 2.5 mile radius in Lexington Park, 32% of children live in poverty, but only 75% of students at the two community schools—Lexington Park and George Washington Carver—are impoverished. Meatyard expected requirements to loosen somewhat as program implementation is assessed.

“The population of St. Mary’s County has increased by 90% since 1980” due to NAS PAX, grant documents state, which “has redefined the local workforce” and “created significant disparities among income groups…the poverty rate in St. Mary’s County is 8%, while the poverty rate in Lexington Park is 16%.”