Catholic Charities of Baltimore launches largest capital campaign in its history

A crowd of nearly 100 people, including donors, program recipients and other invited guests gathered at Our Daily Bread Employment Center in Baltimore Dec. 8, where Catholic Charities of Baltimore formally launched the largest capital campaign in the organization’s nearly 100-year history. 

The funds of the historic $75 million “Greater Promise” fundraising effort will support Catholic Charities’ nearly 100 programs, with a primary focus on an Intergenerational Center in West Baltimore, expanding school readiness through Head Start, Gallagher Services and the Cherry Hill Town Center.

“The term ‘Greater Promise’ refers to our ongoing commitment to providing the assistance necessary to help individuals, families and communities, and our obligation to confront the modern challenges our neighbors are facing,” said William J. “Bill” McCarthy Jr., executive director of Catholic Charities.  

The new campaign claims to “reimagine several of Catholic Charities’ most significant public service programs,” which McCarthy explained as “challenging the way programs have been traditionally designed and services traditionally delivered.”

The fundraising effort began in the spring and has already raised $45 million. According to McCarthy, Catholic Charities hopes to raise the rest by its 100th anniversary in 2023.

The Greater Promise campaign expands on a thought-provoking teaser: “How can I (help, give, love) more?”

According to Catholic Charities, 10 percent of Maryland’s population lives in poverty. The poverty rate is 22 percent in Baltimore City and as high as 17 percent in Maryland’s rural counties. Fifty-five percent of Baltimore City’s employed population lives on the edge of poverty.

The new capital campaign seeks structural change in Baltimore and throughout Maryland.

“The idea is like that proverb, ‘you feed a person, they eat for a day; and if you teach someone how to fish, they can eat for a lifetime.’ It’s reimagining and rethinking those things as well,” McCarthy said.  

Kevin M. Keegan, director of family services at Catholic Charities, said the Greater Promise campaign will improve the infrastructure of current programs, especially those with older buildings, and allow for investing in staff.

“The most important thing we have to do is to invest in our people,” he said, noting that “our programs don’t work without our people.” He added that Catholic Charities is in the process of renovating a building at Gallagher Services into a “more modern space.”

Catholic Charities’ Director of Community Services Amy N. Collier said the Intergenerational Center in West Baltimore will care for children, adults, families and seniors with a state-of-the-art facility for Head Start programs, on-site behavioral health services, substance-use support, recreational and educational activities for youths, mentor opportunities, job training and placement, technical skills training and more.

“The Intergenerational Center will provide holistic support to Head Start children and their families while they’re in the program and as their children age and move on to post-secondary opportunities,” she said. According to Collier, the center is currently securing a site and tentatively will open to the public in July 2023.  

The Cherry Hill Town Center is a work in progress, which has Head Start classrooms, a bank, library, retail space for local entrepreneurs, a community meeting space and access to fruits and vegetables for Cherry Hill residents.

“The idea is to provide economic opportunity for people who live in Cherry Hill,” McCarthy said. “It all has been done collaboratively with the people of Cherry Hill.”

Catholic Charities hopes to restore hope and will continue to work with the residents of Cherry Hill to find a better way forward.

“We believe other neighborhoods and other communities will replicate what we did with the community in Cherry Hill to help create stronger, more vibrant and healthier communities,” McCarthy added.

During the Dec. 8 breakfast, several speakers highlighted the good works of Catholic Charities. Among those were McCarthy; Theresa Becks, president of the board of Catholic Charities of Baltimore; Dan Rizzo, Innovation Fellow for Inovalon; and Jerry Pryor, case manager at Christopher Place Employment Academy. 

Campaign cabinet and leadership includes William “Bill” Stromberg, CEO of T. Rowe Price, and his wife Lisa Stromberg; and Marc Bunting, CEO of the Blue Jar Family Council and CFO and co-founder of Alpine Food Service Solutions.

Other attendees were Archbishop William E. Lori; Senate President William C. Ferguson IV; former Maryland Governor and Baltimore Mayor Martin O’Malley and his wife Catherine “Katie” O’Malley; Deputy Mayor Faith P. Leach, representing Mayor Brandon S. Scott; Joyce Benz, representing Governor Larry Hogan; and members of the Catholic Charities Board of Trustees.

“God sees the greater promise in each one of us, a greater promise for which we were created,” Archbishop Lori said. “Today, I invite you to see that greater promise in your neighborhood and in your community to join Catholic Charities in delivering that promise.”

To find out more about “Greater Promise” visit agreaterpromise.org

Email Priscila González de Doran at pdoran@CatholicReview.org

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