The Need
  • United Way of Central Maryland’s 24/7 information and referral service, 2-1-1 Maryland at First Call for Help™, received nearly 20,000 calls from across the state in November alone. People desperate for immediate assistance with basic needs like emergency food, medical care and prescriptions, foreclosure and eviction prevention and funds to keep their lights and heat.
  • Call volume on these needs continued to rise. Here is a comparison of these calls in central Maryland between December 2007 and December 2008
 
2007
2008
Rental Assistance
230
454
Utility Assistance
419
595
Financial Assistance with Prescriptions
38
64
Emergency/Transitional Shelter
246
361
  • Compared to last year, these needs grew in 2008, some calls more than doubling in volume:
Emergency Food:
33% increase
Housing-Rental Assistance:
33% increase
Housing-emergency assistance:
15% increase
Energy assistance; weatherization:
59% increase
Job training; job placement:
176% increase
  • These needs exist across central Maryland, with energy assistance topping the list in each county in 2008.
Anne Arundel:
785 Energy-related calls
Baltimore City:
4,600 Energy-related calls
Baltimore County:
2,756 Energy-related calls
Carroll County:
86 Energy-related calls
Harford County:
455 Energy-related calls
Howard County:
436 Energy-related calls
  • The unemployment rate in the Baltimore-Towson Metropolitan area jumped from 4.7 percent in September 2008 to 5.1 percent in October 2008. By December, the state average was 5.3 percent.
  • In fiscal year 2007, more than 36,000 people were sheltered in central Maryland, either in emergency shelters, transitional housing or motels. By county:
Anne Arundel:
1,477 served
Baltimore City:
11,738 served
Baltimore County:
3,815 served
Carroll County:
842 served
Harford County:
814 served
Howard County:
638 served
  • On 41,922 occasions in fiscal year 2007, people were turned away from Maryland shelters or motels because of lack of space or funds. That’s 7,563 more than in fiscal year 2006.
  • In 2007, 36.2 million people lived in households considered to be food insecure. Of these 36.2 million, 23.8 million are adults (10.6 percent of all adults) and 12.4 million are children (16.9 percent of all children).
  • It is estimated that 290,000 Maryland residents qualify for energy assistance. Rising oil, natural gas prices and utility rate increase mean that more and more people will need assistance.
  • Currently low-income families pay, on average, 25 percent of their yearly income toward energy costs compared with 4 percent for middle class families.

Sources: 2-1-1 Maryland at United Way’s First Call for Help, Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, U.S. Department of Labor, Maryland Department of Human Resources, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Fuel Fund of Maryland, Inc.