A philanthropist's dream is the gift that keeps on giving, and that's just what the Baltimore Community Fellowship program does. Besides helping social pioneers to finance their dream programs, the fellowship creates the opportunity for these efforts to take hold and improve the lives of community members.

The Open Society Institute-Baltimore established the Baltimore Community Fellowship program in 1998 to help people with passion and expertise, but limited time and resources, to carry out a vision to help marginalized communities. Each year, up to 10 applicants receive about $48,000 to work full-time for 18 months implementing their strategies in Baltimore. 

Today, this program is supported by additional funders, including the Alison & Arnold Richman Fund at BCF, Cohen Opportunity Fund, and Hoffberger Foundation. 

"People come to us with an idea to address a pervasive problem in an underserved community," notes Pamela King, director of the Baltimore Community Fellowship program. "These projects are not necessarily related to what they do in their day job, but they are related to what the fellows have experienced in life and something they've tried on a small scale and have had success at."

Aisling McGuckin, a 2006 fellow, was a Peace Corps volunteer working with villagers in Madagascar who earned nursing and public health degrees upon her return. She volunteered for the International Rescue Committee's Resettlement Center in Baltimore, assessing the health needs of Somali Bantu women, while working as a nurse manager in the city's prison system.

The fellowship helped her develop a program that trains refugees and asylum seekers living in Baltimore as liaisons between their communities and the health care provider community. They then teach their neighbors everything from how to avoid unfamiliar household hazards to how to tap available services. It also improves "the awareness of the health care providers" about how to best serve this community, McGuckin notes.

This project is one of 94 developed by fellows since 1998; 75 percent of the fellows' projects have continued in some form.

"The program gives many people the opportunity to see their vision come true, which would never have happened if they didn't get the funding for it," notes supporter Lois Feinblatt of the Lois and Irving Blum Foundation. "After the 18 months, very often they are able to parlay that into a real community project that lasts forever because it's been so successful."