A 50 percent budget cut for The Shriver Center has affected more than just UMBC students. The Shriver Center lost approximately $1.5 million, resulting in the elimination of 37 positions. The Choice Program, one of the four components of The Shriver Center, suffered most from the budget cuts, which resulted in the elimination of services offered to over 500 youth and families in Montgomery, Prince Georges and Anne Arundel counties.
According to Lamar Davis, Director of The Choice Programs, the organization had to make tough decisions: "We lost the key capacity in terms of our support to the program. We had to consolidate our management structures in order to allow maximum amount of services to youth and families."
In order to do this, they are combining their offices with the new supervision structures that will help decrease some of the overhead costs and increase output. After making changes, The Shriver Center's Choice Program is only able to work with 500 youth and families, or half their previous capacity and only in Baltimore County and Baltimore city.
Due to recent budget cuts, there are fewer opportunities for graduating students to receive a Community Service-Learning Fellowship (CSLF) and be selected for The Choice Program. This fellowship allows recent college graduates to spend a year understanding the challenges of poverty and reducing disproportionate minority confinement. The CSL fellows are required to work fifty-five to sixty-five hours a week; they earn an annual stipend of $22,200 at the end of the year plus an AmeriCorps Educational Award, which they can use to either pay off their school loans or to apply to graduate programs. This program is designated for students who want to have a learning experience and learn about social issues within the community.
The CSLF also enables students to develop strong leadership skills before entering professional life. "Students apply here because they want to make a difference in the lives of youth and families. Unfortunately, we will only be able to offer [opportunities to] half our applicants who want to be Community Service-Learning Fellows," said Davis. The Shriver Center recruits student participants from across the whole nation. Many students apply from out of state, from such cities as New York and Boston, though the main job of the Choice Program is to provide support to youth and families located in Baltimore.
"We serve kids through the court system who have been referred to us. We are an alternative to detention and placements. We give support to the kids and their families with intensive case management, mentoring and supervision," said Davis. "Our youth are all engaged in the court system so we need to understand their situation and make sure that parents are involved every step of the way."
To encourage parental involvement and keep students from getting in trouble, Community Service-Learning Fellows go out into communities and work with them on a daily basis.
The program also offers employment training and opportunities for youths in the community through its Choice Jobs initiative. Adolescents ranging from 14 to 18 years old, are hired to learn customer service protocols, handle cash registers, and learn basic key components of employment. "Everything from how to shake hands to making eye contact, to going for the job applications, and keeping up with specific jobs, to being punctual. It is a learning process to teach some of the basic employment skills to our young students," explained Davis. Due to the budget cuts, these services will only be available in Baltimore City and the surrounding county.
The budget cuts have the opportunities available to families living outside the greater Baltimore area. "The state is in a fiscal crisis. One of the things that this illustrates is the fact that cuts have caused elimination of so many programs and services across the state. There are difficult fiscal decisions being made. However, we are still being supported by the Department of Juvenile services and the courts. The Choice Program is still here and will continue to provide high-quality services to the youth and families in the Baltimore and Baltimore city," remarked Davis.