The MASSB Minute

Greetings, everyone. Ready, set, go! We are looking forward to seeing you at the 2024 MASSB Annual Conference, held on October 3–4, 2024, at Washington College in Chestertown. This year's theme, Poverty, will guide a series of impactful sessions designed to foster innovative solutions to help Maryland's most vulnerable.

Conference highlights include an interactive Poverty Simulation that will offer participants a hands-on understanding of poverty's challenges, as well as panel discussions on Directing Youth out of Poverty and Food Insecurity, featuring leaders from key community organizations. From a social work, sociological, and policy perspective, an interdisciplinary panel will focus on poverty. Additionally, the Lifting Lives Awards will recognize outstanding programs that have made a significant impact in Maryland communities.

Finally, renowned poet Mary Oliver will be honored with a Living History Performance by Colleen Webster. As in previous years, we strive for a blend of inspiration and actionable insights that will benefit vulnerable populations in our communities.

Best,
Tony

Please note the new MASSB Foundation e-mail: massbftrustee@gmail.com

Networking. Learning. Inspiration. Recognition. Check out the program details for this year's conference.

View Program Details

Kelisa Marsh, Safe Harbor Domestic Violence Shelter, Calvert County, Maryland

Every 12 seconds a woman is abused in the United States. Domestic violence and abuse is a serious problem that can happen to anyone. It knows no socio-economic, racial or educational boundaries, yet it is often overlooked, excused or ignored. We are grateful to Kelisa Marsh, Shelter Manager, for taking the time to answer our questions and help us increase awareness of this important issue.

What type of services do DV shelters typically provide? Safe Harbor provides safety, shelter, and security to individuals and families actively fleeing domestic violence. We have a staff of compassionate and caring individuals ready to assist individuals and families as they work towards healing and independence. We have an on-site counselor available to assist anyone that may need services. Our case manager is available to assess the needs of our clients, and link them to community resources that best meet their needs.

Do you help women that are young or old? Employed or unemployed? With or without children? Do you help men? We assist all genders, ages, employed and unemployed (we have a case manager readily available to assist with job searching). We assist individuals and families.

What are the greatest challenges for individuals or families entering your shelter? The greatest challenge that I have noticed for individuals or families entering the shelter are obtaining housing, daycare, and employment. A lot of our families enter the shelter with financial struggles, so immediately, our case manager will assist them with applying for every resource available that will assist them with obtaining financial stability, which in turn will help them with other challenging areas such as housing, daycare, employment, transportation, etc.

How can community members support their local DV shelters? Our Calvert County community is great! They support us through not only monetary donations, but donations of household supplies, personal hygiene products, diapers, and items for our food pantry. During the holidays, every year, members of the community adopt our families and assist with providing a happy holiday for the parents and the children. We have had local Boy Scout troops clean out our memorial garden and build a fence around it, and they built benches for our families to enjoy. We have school students and churches that donated items as well. These are just some examples of ways to support local DV shelters.

Please contact your local shelter to confirm their specific needs.

View Donation Ideas

Chair, Worcester County Advisory Board

I know I speak for the Worcester County DSS Board members when I say we are most proud of our relationship and work with the Worcester County staff. One of our annual goals is "we will continue to support staff activities." We do this by being available to attend staff recognition/appreciation events including attending County Commissioners' recognition sessions and participating in events put on by staff such as holiday gatherings and staff development. We also invite agency units to participate in Advisory Board meetings for "boots on the ground" information sessions.

One charge of the Advisory Board is to promote important information about the Department's services. Additionally, the Advisory Board has a vested interest to ensure that the services provided are meeting the needs of the County's communities and citizens.

In April the Board held a community leaders gathering to discuss services available to and needed by various segments of our citizens. Our goals were to: 1) identify services offered, 2) identify areas of overlap and/or gaps with provided services, and 3) understand the challenges local organizations face. Our current work is to summarize the proceedings and decide the next steps.

This Advisory Board is fully engaged in promoting the work of DSS even though our involvement with actual financial support is minimal.

Job Center: The Center works one on one with customers to assist them to achieve independence through training and employment.

In Home and Parent Aide Services: Support services to maintain families in their home and within their community. It provides assistance to the adults and families with budgeting, cleaning, and skills to maintain self-sufficiency in their own homes.

Developing or revitalizing a nonprofit board can be hard! Experienced MASSB members are available for training or coaching sessions. We are all volunteers, so help is free of charge. Reasonable funding for training offered by other organizations such as Maryland Nonprofits is also available. Please e-mail massbftrustee@gmail.com.