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The Pride of Baltimore sails on the Chesapeake Bay. The organization’s Sail250 programming will connect audiences to Maryland’s maritime heritage and America’s seafaring legacy.

Baltimore Community Foundation Announces Legacy Forward Grant Recipients Supporting Programming Across Baltimore in Celebration of America’s 250th Anniversary

The Baltimore Community Foundation (BCF), a nonprofit organization that connects people who are passionate about their community and purposeful in their philanthropy, has awarded Legacy Forward Grants to 19 organizations across Baltimore City and County to support public programming connected to the 250th anniversary of the United States.

Through the Legacy Forward Fund, BCF designated $250,000 to support historical, cultural, educational, and place-based organizations creating projects and programs tied to America250. The grants support programming that examines history, civic life, and the people, events, and ideas that have shaped the nation and Baltimore’s place within it.

“Our country’s semiquincentennial should inspire, challenge, and unite us,” said Shanaysha Sauls, president and CEO of the Baltimore Community Foundation. “For America’s 250th, BCF is proudly supporting local exhibitions, performances, lectures, civic dialogue, public art, festivals, and educational programming that reflect the richness, history, and importance of Baltimore for the United States.  Not only is Legacy Forward a moment to reflect on the past and to project a future, this is an invitation to explore who we are, what endures, and what it means to be free, equal, and independent under the law.”

Supporting Community Reflection and Connection

Some funded projects focus on Maryland’s role in the nation’s founding and development, while others examine how different communities have experienced and shaped American history over time. Together, they offer Baltimore audiences a range of ways to engage with the 250th anniversary through local history, public programming, and civic participation.

Legacy Forward Grant Recipients

BCF awarded Legacy Forward Grants to the following organizations:

  • B&O Railroad Museum for Tracks of Unity: America 250 at the B&O!, which explores Baltimore’s diverse communities through the lenses of railroading, labor, and civil rights.
  • Bach in Baltimore for a 2026 concert season and a special free concert celebrating the first 250 years of American music.
  • Baltimore Symphony Orchestra for America 250 programming that explores the nation’s founding and history through performance.
  • Federal Hill Main Street for Multiple Voices, Shared Spaces, a series of guided walking tours exploring the meaning of “a more perfect union.”
  • Fire Museum of Maryland for Fanning the Flames of Freedom, a partnership with Baltimore County Public Schools that includes a public festival and youth arts engagement.
  • Foundation for Baltimore County Public Library for a series of community events, author visits, and a culminating lecture at Goucher College by an acclaimed author and presidential biographer.
  • Girl Scouts of Central Maryland for a community block party and intergenerational discussion program commemorating the nation’s 250th anniversary.
  • Heritage Society of Essex and Middle River for a speaker series exploring democracy, freedom, and local contributions to the American story.
  • Hippodrome Foundation for the SUFFS: The Musical Program Series, engaging Baltimore-area students in learning about civic activism, voting, and the women’s suffrage movement.
  • Maryland African American Museum Corporation for THE LINES WE CROSS: 250 Years of Maryland Forging America, highlighting Black Marylanders who challenged the nation to live up to its founding ideals.
  • MPT Foundation for Maryland: America in Miniature, a storytelling project collaboration with Maryland-based photographer Carol Highsmith, focused on Maryland’s landscapes, communities, and history.
  • No Boundaries Coalition for a voter engagement program focused on civic participation and storytelling in West Baltimore.
  • Pikesville Armory Foundation for a public event honoring Maryland Citizen Soldiers and examining Maryland’s pivotal role in the origins and defense of the United States.
  • Pride of Baltimore for programming tied to Sail250 port festivals, offering audiences a connection to America’s maritime legacy.
  • Star Spangled Banner Flag House Association for Maryland’s America: 250 Years of American History Through Marylander Eyes, a statewide community art project and museum exhibition.
  • The Maryland Center for History and Culture for Maryland at 250: The Values That Shape Us, a public lecture and conversation series exploring Maryland’s role in defining constitutional values.
  • The Peale Center for Baltimore History and Architecture for Facing Forward: Baltimore’s Civic Dialogues for America at 250, a series examining major themes in American civic life.
  • Todd’s Inheritance Historic Site for a Revolutionary War presentation series spanning the 2026 and 2027 seasons.
  • Towson University Foundation for Summer at the Center Arts Festival: Voices of a Nation, featuring performances, exhibitions, and arts programming tied to America 250.

Looking Ahead to 2026 and Beyond

Legacy Forward is designed to help communities across Baltimore mark this milestone in ways that are historically grounded, publicly engaging, and forward-looking. The funded projects will take place between 2026 and 2027.

To learn more about the Legacy Forward Fund, visit www.bcf.org/legacyforward-2.

Baltimore Community Foundation

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Building Stronger Neighborhoods Regionwide

We have a nearly 30-year history of offering grants to resident-led groups and community projects in Baltimore City and Baltimore County. These grants give residents the resources they need to accomplish a small project, get more people involved, and encourage the next generation of neighborhood leaders. We also fund programs that support the development of leaders of all ages who are working to improve their neighborhoods and schools. Our support is intended to help identify, activate, inform and network leaders. And finally, we believe when schools and neighborhoods team up to improve their school and community, meaningful and lasting change can be made. We are interested in funding proposals in which the students and adults in schools collaborate intentionally with community residents, neighborhood associations, and other individuals, groups, and institutions in the area surrounding a school.  

School Leadership

We believe that attracting and retaining effective and diverse school leaders is a key lever for change in Baltimore’s educational landscape, and so we fund school leadership development efforts at the district and individual school level. We are interested in funding proposals that focus on principal coaching, mentoring, peer networking, wellness/self-care, as well as pipelines that identify and develop new leaders. We will also continue to support efforts that build a culture of appreciation and encouragement for school leaders.

How Can We Help?

Melissa McC. Warlow
Director, Baker Fund Grants Program
410-332-4172 x150

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Our on-line application system provides applicants with a portal to start a new grant application or to continue updating an application already in process. Please be sure to select the “Save and Finish Later” button when you are finished working on your application in order to save your current session’s work. At any time during the application process you can select the “Contact Us” button in the top right corner of the screen and you will be able to send an email to the Baltimore Community Foundation staff with specific questions. 

To be considered for funding, proposals must be submitted through the online application portal, however, we provide a PDF version of the application along with other useful forms here for your reference:   

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Place-based Grantmaking in Selected School Communities

We have allocated funds for two geographical areas that bookend a crucial corridor on the Westside of Baltimore City: Howard Park /Forest Park area (served by Calvin Rodwell Elementary Middle School and Liberty Elementary), and Reservoir Hill/Penn North area (served by Dorothy I Height Elementary). In these three schools and their surrounding neighborhoods, we will support projects and activities designed to make the communities safe, clean, green and vibrant; and improve the quality of the schools. Some projects may be neighborhood-focused, some school-focused and others collaborative projects between the schools and their respective communities.

Early Learning & Judy Centers

High quality early childhood education has a lifelong effect on students. Through our Early Learning grant program, we are interested in system-wide early childhood education proposals that will help Baltimore City and County’s youngest learners, and their families, get the start they need. Nonprofit organizations that offer programs and/or services to Judy Centers are encouraged to contact the centers directly to explore partnership opportunities.

How Can We Help?

John A. Gilpin

J.D., CAP®,AEP®

Director of Planned Gifts
410-332-4171 ext. 132

How Can We Help?

Kate Sam

Communications Officer
410-332-4171 ext. 181

How Can We Help?

Cathy Brill

Executive Director
Leonard and Helen R. Stulman Charitable Foundation

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