ANNAPOLIS, Md. — The Governor’s Office for Children today announced the launch of an expanded, multi-agency effort to improve the delivery of programs and public benefits to students and their families in high-poverty areas across the state.
The Community Schools Delivery Program, first piloted in 2024, matches participating Maryland state agencies directly with Community Schools across the state of Maryland. State agency staff provide wraparound services to students and their families, including helping families find stable housing, assisting with enrollment in benefits like SNAP, helping schools set up health centers, providing mental health resources, and providing workforce and job training to parents.
Eight Maryland state agencies have been matched with local education agencies (LEAs) across 10 counties, where they will provide direct support to students and families.
“This program is maximizing the impact of Maryland’s commitment to Community Schools, and supporting the Moore-Miller administration’s work to end childhood poverty,” said Governor’s Office for Children Special Secretary Carmel Martin. “To help children to succeed, we must ensure they have access to academic support, but also access to health care and safe and stable environments. By closing gaps between the critical supports the State offers, and the children and families who need them, this program will help more children thrive – both in and out of the classroom.”
In matching state agencies with schools the program is supporting the State’s investments in Community Schools through an all-of-government approach. The Moore-Miller administration has delivered nearly $10 billion in K–12 funding – including over a billion dollars in funding to Community Schools. The program also prioritizes matching schools in ENOUGH jurisdictions in order to further target supports to areas of concentrated childhood poverty.
“When state government builds strong relationships with schools, Maryland better serves students and their families,” said State Superintendent of Schools Dr. Carey M. Wright. “We are grateful to our state agency partners for participating in this valuable program. Maryland public schools are improving for the third consecutive year, and it’s through innovative and collaborative partnerships like these that our success will continue.”
“The work in our Community Schools to create partnerships that support the whole child through family involvement is paying huge dividends, and this new collaboration with the Maryland Department of Health will only enhance that work,” said Dr. Mark Bedell, Superintendent of Anne Arundel County Public Schools. “This partnership will expand access to counseling and mental health supports, helping more of our students thrive both in and out of the classroom and aligning with our Strategic Plan. We are deeply grateful to our state-level partners for working directly with our schools to make a meaningful difference in the lives of our students and families.”
The following agencies are participating in the Community Schools Delivery Program:
- Maryland Department of Human Services (DHS)
- Maryland Department of Health (MDH)
- Maryland Higher Education Commission (MHEC)
- Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD)
- Maryland Department of Service and Civic Innovation (DSCI)
- Maryland Department of Labor (MDL)
- Maryland Department of Juvenile Services (DJS)
- Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT)