October 07, 2022

Credit: WFMD, Kevin McManus

Sixth District Representative David Trone paid a visit on Thursday to the Permanent Supportive Housing, Food Distribution Center and Soup Kitchen in Frederick. He says he spoke with local officials, including Mayor Michael O’Connor, who told him the city wants to renovate the facility.

“We were able to secure a Community Funded Grant for $1.3-million in the {fiscal year 2023} budget. It’s already passed the House and will pass the Senate when they come back in December,” he says.

Trone also says the facility in Frederick needed renovations. “They really want to bring it  to looking like a more comfortable area, housing in particular,” he said. “There’s 15 folks that stay there in housing. They need separate bathrooms. We need a better food areas itself.”

During his time in Frederick, Representative Trone discussed the problem of homelessness with Frederick officials. “We’ve got about 300 homeless in Frederick. We talked about the overriding incidents of addiction, about 70% of mental challenges, probably close to 100%,. and ways we could try to help them,”: he said.

Part of Representative Trone’s visit to Frederick included a meeting with the Board of a new non-profit called Good Works, which focuses on racial equity and reducing poverty. He said the organization is interested in developing more transportation services for senior citizens, especially those who  live in the outlying areas of Frederick  which are not served by TransIT. . “We’ve got some buses and few ride shares for seniors. But we don’t have solid public transportation,:”: says Trone. “They have a model to set up sort of an Uber-type program at no charge. They’re working on getting some grant support and then they’ll go out and get volunteers to help with program.”

Trone, who is a member of the House Appropriations Committee, says his office will work on trying to find federal grants for Good Works to start up this transportation service for senior citizens.