For Charm City Care Connection (CCCC), a Baltimore nonprofit organization that connects people impacted by drug use with health services and other support, one of the best outcomes is when a former client becomes an employee.

Bakari Atiba, a community leadership specialist at CCCC, describes how the organization helped turn around the trajectory of a man who’d been homeless in Baltimore for two decades.

“We were able to hook him up with case management and get him services he needed,” said Atiba at the annual Johns Hopkins Medicine (JHM) United Way campaign kickoff breakfast Oct. 16. Three years later, Atiba said, that man is now employed by CCCC and canvassing the same neighborhood where he’d been homeless to extend the organization’s outreach to others who are struggling.

“This is important,” Atiba said. “When you have somebody who was down bad, and now they’re employed and actually coming back out into the neighborhood providing services to their peers, it’s motivation.”

A neighbor to The Johns Hopkins Hospital, CCCC is one of many local organizations that can receive support from the JHM United Way campaign, an annual employee-driven fundraising effort. CCCC works with the Johns Hopkins Neighborhood Fund, which relies on United Way donations and is managed by a committee of Johns Hopkins faculty and staff members.

During the first in-person United Way leadership breakfast since 2019, held in the Turner Concourse in East Baltimore on Monday, dozens from Johns Hopkins Medicine joined to launch this year’s campaign, United and Moving Forward, which runs through Dec. 22. (See "How to Donate," below.)

A new easy-to-use giving platform, e-Pledge, allows single sign-on and payments via credit card or payroll deduction. Donations can go toward United Way programs focused on housing, education, economic development, health and strengthening neighborhoods, among other needs. Staff members can also designate funds directly to their nonprofit group of their choice that is based locally or anywhere in the U.S, and this year, there’s an option for employees to donate the value of their unused paid time off to a fund for survivors of the Maui wildfires in Hawaii.

The target this year is for Johns Hopkins Medicine employees in Baltimore and the National Capital Region to raise $1.24 million, leaders say.

“When you think about it, United Way and Johns Hopkins exist for the same reason — we’re both dedicated to improving the human condition,” says Theodore DeWeese, interim dean of the medical faculty and CEO, Johns Hopkins Medicine. “So we completely believe in the United Way mission, and we see clear, tangible results.”

"As leaders in the community, I think with our friends at United Way, we’re uniquely positioned to make a difference,” says Kevin Sowers, president of the Johns Hopkins Health System and executive vice president of Johns Hopkins Medicine. Sowers emphasizes that one of United Way’s greatest strengths is “understanding the problems of the people they serve, and evolving their programs from that.”

In total, United Way of Central Maryland directly funds, operates or partners with 34 programs that improve the lives of 130,000 Marylanders, according to Franklyn Baker, the organization’s president and CEO. He says most of the people served fit into the ALICE (Asset-Limited, Income-Constrained, Employed) category, which applies to at least 30% of households in the state and 53% of those in Baltimore.

“They can’t keep pace with the state’s high cost of living,” Baker says.

In the capital region, United Way works with 20 program partners. Through five financial empowerment centers, more than 12,500 residents have recently received financial coaching in areas including homeownership and workforce development, while nearly 5,000 students got assistance in college and career readiness and social-emotional learning among other skills for navigating education.

The Johns Hopkins campaign also supports the 211 Maryland United Way Helpline, an around-the-clock free phone line that connects people to more than 7,500 local health and human services resources in more than 150 languages. The phone line helps with issues like housing assistance, utility bill payment and financial counseling. During the past fiscal year, 211 answered 112,000 calls, and one in six were from a household within the Johns Hopkins footprint.

On Monday, leaders emphasized that the long-standing relationship between Johns Hopkins and United Way — more than 50 years strong — reaps benefits in both directions.

“The United Way of our generation has demonstrated community impact beyond what Hopkins as an institution has been able to do directly,” said Margaret Moon, who chairs the Johns Hopkins United Way campaign. Moon is the director of the Department of Pediatrics at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and pediatrician-in-chief and co-director of Johns Hopkins Children’s Center.

Campaign co-chair Carolyn Carpenter, president of the Johns Hopkins Health System’s National Capital Region, pointed to the limitations of health care in the U.S., where many people are saddled with medical debt or must defer care due to high costs.

“What happens in our communities determines the social determinants of health,” Carpenter said. “So, how do we contribute to better health? It’s to partner with people like United Way.”

Monday’s event also honored four members of JHM’s United Way steering committee for their outstanding contributions:

• Gian Bonetti, program director of operations and strategic initiatives, Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center
• Dale Engelbert, marketing manager, Johns Hopkins Health Plans
• Anna Scheinberg, assistant administrator for medical affairs, The Johns Hopkins Hospital
• Danielle Wharton, vice president of clinical and support services, Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center

HOW TO DONATE:

Johns Hopkins Medicine employees can make donations online — through payroll deduction or credit card — at login.johnshopkins.edu/unitedway.

Options for giving include:

• Give to United Way to support initiatives such as the 211 Maryland 24/7 help line.
• Give through United Way to a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization of your choice, an eligible Johns Hopkins department or program, or a combination of these options.
• Join United Way’s Step-Up programs to incrementally increase your gift for greater impact.
• Donate unused paid time off (PTO)