Baltimore Gets $15-Million

Spurred by Baltimore’s unemployment rate of nearly 9 percent and a lack of investment in small businesses there, several grant makers have committed $15-million to an investment fund designed to create new jobs for poor and moderate-income people in the area.

Created mainly by pledges of $5-million each from the Open Society Institute–Baltimore and the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the Baltimore Venture Fund will put money into 10 to 15 established enterprises in and around the city. The grant makers hope that those companies will create a total of 1,000 skilled jobs over the next four years, while providing a return of 10 percent or more to the endowments of their philanthropic investors.

Diana Morris, director of the Open Society Institute–Baltimore, said the fund will be used to help tackle Baltimore’s high unemployment rate, which is several percentage points above the national average of 5.8 percent.

“Skilled jobs — that’s the key to improving life here,” said Ms. Morris. “We are looking at companies that can train and retain workers in jobs that are family-supporting and that have benefits. So far, a lot of these companies haven’t been able to get up to scale in Baltimore because they lack equity capital.”