Open Door Baltimore Testifies Before Maryland House of Delegates

Maryland State House

Open Door Baltimore Chief Executive Officer, Bill Simpson, testified before the Appropriations Committee of the Maryland House of Delegates on March 14, 2012.  At the request of Baltimore City Delegate, Keiffer Mitchell, Bill spoke in support of House Bill 1322, Family Investment Program – Assistance Determination – Child Support.

Delegate Keiffer Mitchell

If enacted, the bill will prohibit the inclusion of a child support payment due under a court order, but not actually received, as household income in determining whether an applicant meets the eligibility standard for assistance under the Family Investment Program or the amount of assistance to be provided by a local department of social services.

In his remarks, Bill told the committee that passage of HB1322 would “address a particularly egregious unintended consequence of the federal welfare reform act enacted in 1996 . . . in our desire to ensure that fathers provide for their children, we have inadvertently placed impoverished mothers in an untenable situation in regard to public assistance.”  That is because under current Maryland law, local department of social services are required to use the court-decreed child support figure, and not the actual amount received by mothers, as the basis for all public assistance calculations.  Several of Open Door Baltimore’s clients have been negatively impacted by this law.

We’re In!

Thanks to the heroic efforts of our wonderful staff, board members and our many friends from across the region, Open Door Baltimore successfully moved from Fayette Street to North Milton Avenue yesterday.  A special shout out to the team of young men from The Church at Covenant Park in Ellicott City, a second team of young men from Kairos Baltimore, and some special volunteers from Greenridge Baptist Church in Clarksburg.  Thank you Jon, Eric and Tim for coordinating your helpers.  They were terrific.  Thank you Adrian for renting and driving the truck.  Thank you Andrew for driving up from Alexandria, VA to help out poor old Dad.  Finally, we need to recognize the efforts of Becky, Deneka, Libby, Mike and Dan who planned every detail of the move.  We’re in and ready to go.  Our new address is 901 North Milton Avenue, Suite 320, Baltimore, MD 21205.  Come see us!