BRHP Awarded $400,000 Abell Foundation Grant for Asset Building Program

The new program will increase the economic resiliency of 250 low-income families throughout the Baltimore region.

Baltimore, MD – The Baltimore Regional Housing Partnership (BRHP) announced today that it was the recipient of a $400,000 grant from the Abell Foundation to launch a new asset building program that will enable families assisted through the Baltimore Housing Mobility Program to set and achieve their education, career, and financial goals, and support full financial independence. The program, Growing Assets and Income (GAIN), will model the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Family Self Sufficiency (FSS) program, which enables HUD-assisted families to increase their earned income and reduce their dependency on public subsidies. 

The GAIN program will be funded over two years and target BRHP families who are nearing full financial independence. The program will follow a structured monetary incentive model centered on achieving a set of education, career, financial health, and homeownership milestones that contribute towards enhancing economic status. In this effort, BRHP will seek to partner with entities in the field who are leaders in leveraging FSS programs and developing client-centered asset building models for housing providers.

“The will for financial freedom is strong and this program will provide a way towards that goal for families we serve.  We understand that asset building is the pathway to greater financial independence and an opportunity to break intergenerational cycles of poverty. The GAIN program will give our families supports and incentives to become economically resilient and ultimately build savings through a time-tested model,” said Adria Crutchfield, executive director at BRHP.

BRHP has over 14,000 households on a wait list for the Baltimore Housing Mobility Program. The wait list has been closed since 2017 due to federal funding constraints. Through the GAIN program, BRHP will graduate families from the rental assistance provided by the housing mobility program to then issue the available vouchers to applicants from the wait list.

“We are making a targeted effort to increase the economic position of the heads of households in our program,” said Pete Cimbolic, managing director of operations and program evaluation at BRHP. “For every family exiting the program through this economic initiative, a new family with young children will get an opportunity to reap the benefits of rental assistance, housing mobility, and counseling to access quality housing and neighborhoods of their choice throughout the region.”

For more background on the Baltimore Regional Housing Partnership: www.brhp.org

For more background on the Abell Foundation: https://abell.org/

###