Collaborations 

The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)
The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is a tax reduction and a wage supplement for low and moderate income working families. In the state of Maryland, 2-1-1 Maryland at First Call for Help™ serves as the EITC hotline, helping eligible residents bring money back into the community. Information and referral specialists screen callers for eligibility for the credit and refer callers to free tax preparation sites.

Homeless Management Information System (HMIS)
The HMIS was set up by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to collect and report information on homelessness. The system is implemented at the local level, which is where United Way is involved. As the state jurisdictions, supported by the Maryland State Department of Human Resources’ Office of Transitional Services, worked to centralize and standardize how data is collected, United Way played a leadership role in the process, spearheading aspects of that effort. This effort helps all stakeholders addressing the problem of homelessness understand its magnitude.

Open Society Institute – Baltimore
United Way is a funding partner in the Open Society Institute‘s Initiative to Improve Behavioral Interventions and Reduce Suspensions and Expulsions in Baltimore City Public Schools. A three-year program, the initiative works with 12 grantees and the public school system to stem suspensions and expulsions in the city. This valuable collaboration is helping to build a strong, calm and supportive school environment for thousands of students.

Service Access and Information Link (S.A.I.L)
United Way of Central Maryland works with the Maryland State Department of Human Resources (DHR) on the S.A.I.L. program, an online resource that helps individuals register for public benefits like food stamps. United Way helped connect 10 community-based organizations with DHR to offer the S.A.I.L. program on-site. United Way delivered computers, coordinated training and technical assistance and helped provide feedback on the program, which is designed to expedite the process when filing for certain Department of Social Service programs. United Way’s First Call for Help™ also participates in the program. If individuals need assistance, call specialists are authorized and versed in helping them navigate the S.A.I.L. Web site.

Success By 6®
Last year, United Way of Central Maryland continued its eight-year partnership with the Baltimore City Health Department, the Family League of Baltimore City and Safe and Sound, to help pregnant and parenting families with young children under the age of six. United Way once again provided an allocation of $500,000 and staff support toward decreasing high incidences of low birth weight, infant death and pre-term births, as well as reducing child abuse and neglect and accidents and injuries and increasing the school readiness rate for children in Baltimore City. The program focuses on the high-risk communities of Druid Heights, Reservoir Hill, Upton, Mondawmin, Historic East Baltimore and Sandtown-Winchester. The latest results show that between 2002 and 2005, Success By 6® neighborhoods reduced infant mortality by 3.3 percent, reduced low birth rates by 2.8 percent, reduced premature birth rates by 3.5 percent and increased the number of children who were fully ready for school by 2 percent.