BALTIMORE, MD (Friday, August 11, 2023) – Today, the Mayor's Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement (MONSE) issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for organizations to apply for Fiscal Year 2024 Anti-Human Trafficking and SideStep Youth Provider grant funding. Funding for these opportunities is made available through $575,000 of the agency's General Funds allocation for FY ‘24 for a funding term covering October 1, 2023 to June 30, 2024.
“The success of Baltimore’s comprehensive approach to public safety relies on our ability to support organizations working directly in our communities and integrate their efforts into the City’s broader strategy,” said MONSE Interim Director Stefanie Mavronis. “These grant opportunities are about calling on organizations working to combat human trafficking and empower Baltimore’s young people to partner with us to co-produce public safety and activate alternative supports for youth beyond the criminal legal system.”
FY24 Anti-Human Trafficking Grant Awards: MONSE will invest a total of $325,000, available in $50,000 or $25,000 awards, for selected organizations to support trauma-informed comprehensive services and programs that promote anti-human trafficking efforts and benefit survivors of trafficking in partnership with the Baltimore City Human Trafficking Collaboration. Proposals should demonstrate a real need and highlight the impact of the organization’s current programming. The proposal should clearly serve individuals who are sex trafficked and/or labor trafficked in Baltimore City. Three letters of community support are required.
Grantees will be required to submit monthly invoices with supporting documentation, quarterly performance reports on results, outcomes, and impacts, and demonstrate a willingness to partner with MONSE and the City of Baltimore as part of a comprehensive, co-produced anti-human trafficking and violence prevention strategy.
FY24 SideStep Provider Grant Awards: Additionally, $250,000 is available to support multiple service providers interested in partnering with the City of Baltimore’s pre-arrest youth diversion program, SideStep. MONSE is looking for a range of providers with the capacity to serve children and teens (between the ages of 8 and 18) with varied interests and needs, including the following:
- Employment and Career Development
- Educational Support
- Youth Development and Social Support
- Community Engagement
- Mentoring and Peer Engagement
- Healing Support
- Family Engagement and Supportive Services
- Restorative and Transformative Justice
Proposals should highlight the impact of the organization’s current programming and be specific about who is served, such as age, gender, sexual identity, and background. The ideal service provider selected for this grant would be prepared to begin accepting referrals from MONSE for youth and teens across Baltimore City.
Organizations are encouraged to apply by 6:00 p.m. on September 1, 2023, through MONSE’s Grant Portal. MONSE plans to publicly announce grantees in early October 2023. Grantees should expect to receive a funding decision and initiate contracting with MONSE in October 2023.
Please email all questions about this opportunity or MONSE's grant process to monse.grants@baltimorecity.gov.
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About SideStep Pre-Arrest Youth Diversion
The SideStep pre-arrest youth diversion program seeks to respond to the needs of youth and families in their own community. As an alternative to the formal justice system, SideStep provides young people with transformative assistance from trusted community-based organizations to improve their lives and help them reach their full potential. The program was designed and developed by young people in West Baltimore, justice-system partners determined to reform law enforcement interactions with youth, and community-based organizations after the 2015 uprising and is a partnership between MONSE, community-based organizations, the Baltimore Police Department, and the Department of Juvenile Services.
SideStep Pre-Arrest Youth Diversion is currently located in the Western District and is in the planning stages for citywide scale. The pilot is currently undergoing evaluation.
About MONSE’s Anti-Human Trafficking Work
Understanding that it takes a unified, inter-agency, and cross-state approach to build a strong network of individuals and organizations who work together to bring the perpetrators of trafficking to light and to ensure that all identified survivors receive the essential services they need to recover and heal, as part of MONSE’s Victim Services lane, the agency works hand-in-hand with the Baltimore City Human Trafficking Collaborative to combat both Sex and Labor Trafficking in the City of Baltimore by:
- Raising awareness through education, law enforcement training, and media campaigns
- Supporting both State and Federal investigations and prosecutions of Traffickers
- Supporting human trafficking survivors by providing them access to quality services through a victim-centered, trauma-informed approach
Through this work, MONSE has partnered with Mercy Medical Center to implement Baltimore’s Blue Dot Human Trafficking Initiative, designed to ensure that no survivors of trafficking fall through the cracks, and that all identified survivors receive services. Earlier this year, the Blue Dot Human Trafficking Initiative won the “Presidential Award for Extraordinary Efforts To Combat Trafficking in Persons”.
