Our Projects
Advance Maryland serves our community by partnering with organizations across the state who share our values and vision for Maryland. In addition to our partner work, we invest in several projects and coalitions with sustained, in-depth efforts. Members of our team serve on their leadership teams, and guide strategic planning, digital, and communications, and policy advocacy. We often run social media accounts, lead legislative strategy, provide operational support, create media guides, write press releases, and much more.
The Maryland Youth Justice Coalition (MYJC) is a group of youth advocates, juvenile public defenders, national criminal justice reform organizations, social service providers, and more committed to transforming our youth justice system. We know that care, not cages, makes our communities safer and gives kids the support they need to not be defined by their worst moments. MYJC has been instrumental in the passage of landmark youth justice reform legislation like the Juvenile Restoration Act and the Child Interrogation Protection Act. Now, MYJC is committed to passing the Youth Equity and Safety Act, which would end the harmful practice of automatically charging children as adults.
Tax Credits for Maryland Families (TCMF) is a coalition of community-led organizations, nonprofits, and Marylanders working to strengthen the tax credits that give hundreds of thousands of working families in Maryland the opportunity to thrive. Working family tax credits like the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit (CTC) help Marylanders afford basics like transportation and child care, so they can take care of their families and contribute to their communities and our economy. In 2023, TCMF led the charge to make the pandemic expansions of the Earned Income and Child Tax Credits permanent in Maryland.
Every Marylander needs safe, affordable housing in order to thrive, but our state lacks crucial renter protections to help people access housing, and stay in their homes. That’s why we’re partnering with Renters United Maryland to advocate for policies that support stable housing, and stronger communities.
Maryland is a national leader when it comes to protecting bodily autonomy, but we continue to face threats from a hostile federal government, and anti-abortion states. We must stay vigilant and connected in order to protect Marylanders and those traveling to Maryland seeking abortion care, and gender affirming care. That is why AMDEFM created the Reproductive Justice Advocates Network – to ensure bodily autonomy is a right that can be equitably accessed by everyone in our state.
Everyone deserves to feel safe in their community, especially our kids. Too often, conversations about safety place a disproportionate amount of responsibility on young people, often villainizing them and disregarding their rights, while overlooking their needs and right to safety. Community leaders and residents across our state are seeking information, data and resources to better understand how to respond to concerns and better support young people in Maryland. The Youth Rights & Safety Hub (YRSH) can help. YRSH partners with data specialists and communications experts to share the truth—not the hype—about what Maryland’s kids are experiencing and what they need to thrive.
In addition to the sustained, in-depth work we do with our core projects and coalitions, our team provides on-call strategic, organizing, communications, and digital support to many other efforts and organizations across Maryland. Our team has been involved in numerous efforts including rapid response immigrant rights, Baltimore City grassroots organizing efforts to amplify community voices, supported voting rights coalitions fighting against suppression tactics, advocated for fair taxation policies that ask the wealthy to pay their share, and advanced economic justice campaigns that put working families first. Our efforts are stronger when we undertake them together. If you’re interested in learning more about our “On-Call Support”, please contact us.
