Q&A with Dawn Glover, founder of Community Partner Gabrielle’s Place

Dawn Glover Shares Insights on Her Diverse Community

BEN GROSS: Tell us a little bit about your organization, Gabrielle’s Place.

DAWN GLOVER: While Baltimore is our hometown, Gabrielle’s Place was actually started back in 2011 in Atlanta. We had a goal of helping people in the short-term with food, but more importantly, with employment, counseling, and educational resources for long-term challenges. We built the program with belief that the lives of families struggling with poverty can change through personal responsibility.

BG: Can you expand on what “personal responsibility” means at Gabrielle’s Place?

DG: We believe that stronger individuals create stronger families, which help strengthen the entire community. So our program sees education and job training as the keys to unlocking doors, or what the Maryland Food Banks calls “building pathways out of hunger.”

BG: How did your relationship with the Maryland Food Bank begin?

DG: In 2020, the pandemic gave us the opportunity to return and expand our successful program to the area we grew up. We knew we could bring the success of our core services, but we needed to collaborate with like-minded organizations if we were going to strengthen our own organization. So, we reached out to the Maryland Food Bank, and since 2021, have been able to offer food distributions.

BG: What are the most common root cause issues or challenges neighbors in your community that bring people to Gabrielle’s Place?

DG: While you still hear some of the same root causes (lack of education and job opportunities) the shift I’ve been noticing is more people who are employed but are just unable to make ends meet.

I mean, hello, how is this even possible today? How is that there are people who are who have degrees, who have skills, who have trades, who are now just simply unable to do it on their own? For whatever reasons, the cost of food and other things associated just with basic everyday living are still high, so it’s like the perfect mix for poverty, you know?

BG: So what can Gabrielle’s Place do to help?

DG: This demographic of people, they don’t need the same things. They don’t need job training—they are trying to hold on to the job that they have and they’re trying to figure out how to make that paycheck stretch.

Well, we help them simply by providing food when they come to the food pantry they are. You know, they’re able to receive fresh fruits, vegetables, meats, and eggs—did you see that eggs are now almost $7.00 a dozen? Just for eggs! So it’s pretty simple, if we can help people who cannot afford going to the grocery store, that is a big help in their budget.

BG: So, for these neighbors who don’t need the more traditional programs (job training, etc.) what else can you offer them?

DG: We have other, what the non-profit world now calls ‘wraparound services’ available, which we’ve been offering for almost 14 years now. It’s not enough that people just come and get food. That helps them, but if I can find out why this person is coming to Garbielle’s Place, we can help them stabilize.

And depending on how that conversation is going, I might even try to do some nutrition education about making little choices. I might suggest that people think about how important a name brand is, and how a store brand has great value. Or it might be a suggestion to substitute meat with lentils, or black beans. Or maybe getting a box of tea bags instead of a case of soda. We have lists of substitutions, meal planning, and other tips that we give out.

BG: How are these conversations affecting neighbors?

DG: Well, it’s a completely different conversation for a neighbor to have with me than calling 211 or a government agency or something like that. It’s a more personal conversation, and I think people are more willing to open up, and then, once we really understand, we can make the right connections.

BG: Now that you’ve been in Baltimore for a while, what change have you seen in your community?

DG: When we started, the people coming were reflective of the demographics in Baltimore, a majority were black and in poverty. While we still see a lot of those same people, I’ve noticed a more diverse population of family-oriented cultures coming though—Hispanic, Pakistani, African.

The other big shift is in what households look like. I estimate that 40% of the families that come see me are living in multi-generational households, where for various reasons, grandparents are basically raising their children’s children, or there are other situations where families just can’t afford to live by themselves.

BG: How do you manage resources for such a diverse group of neighbors?

DG: Its complicated, but the Maryland Food Bank has been such a great partner in this sense. Through grants, we now have large refrigerators that allow us to have fresh produce; through connections with the food bank’s Retail Recovery program, we have relationships with Safeway, Aldi, Eddie’s and First Fruits Farm that helps our food supply. We’re also fortunate to be part of the Culturally Inclusive Crops and Local Food Purchasing Agreement programs. Neighbors were shocked to find familiar foods like oxtails and plantains. Basically, I get to say ‘yes” to a lot more neighbor needs.

BG: What’s next for Gabrielle’s Place?

DG: Recently, we’ve been able to add another one of those wraparound services, through a partnership with Grand Journey Behavioral Health where licensed counselors will be available to speak with families who need help—all the way from young children up to older adults, and it includes behavioral, cognitive, behavioral, and psychiatric counseling, plus addiction assistance. I’m also in discussions with Kaylah Turner, our Regional Program Director, about applying for additional grants to expand our services even further.