Baltimore culinary program gets new kitchen; local staffing firm acquired

Good morning Baltimore!

I almost got blown away by the wind this weekend. Only joking, but the tree in our backyard did lose quite a few big branches.

Thankfully, we're due for gorgeous weather pretty much all of this week. And it's due to be a big one for Baltimore. Thursday is Opening Day for the Baltimore Orioles and kicks off a weekend-long series with the New York Yankees , plus Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band will open up the newly renovated CFG Bank Arena Friday.

Here's what else you should know heading into the week.

Baltimore's safe streets program is working, despite some sticking points

A multi-year study of Baltimore's gun violence intervention program, Safe Streets, found that the several of its locations reduced nearby nonfatal shootings and homicides by an average of 16% to 23%. However, the reductions come with costs to the city, significant staffing challenges and better success in the program's earlier years than later ones. The data was detailed in a report led by The Johns Hopkins University professor Daniel Webster and reported on by the Baltimore Banner last week. Safe Streets operates 10 sites in its most dangerous neighborhoods, with its oldest location in McElderry Park that opened in 2007. Six sites were added in 2019.

The latest takeaways from a changing job market

The craziness of last year's job market is starting to slow for candidates and companies alike, but it's still very active and expected to stay that way, according to American City Business Journals ' The Playbook. A few top takeaways of the current hiring market include a new cautiousness, with companies waiting longer in the interview process before making an offer, more power for employers than employees now that companies have invested in perks like health and wellness, and confusion in the evolution of remote and hybrid work. On one side, some employees are now being asked to commute for a job they wouldn't have taken if the role was in-person, while at other companies, some employees want to do their work in-person but now there's no office to go to.

Baltimore County staffing firm acquired

Hunt Valley-based staffing firm, Mary Kraft HR, An Imagine Company , has been acquired by Buffalo's Imagine Staffing Technology, An Imagine Company , the New York company announced Monday. The deal expands Imagine Staffing's presence in the mid-Atlantic, and adds many long-standing clients to the company's roster, as well as a large service delivery office in Duluth, Minnesota. Mary Kraft HR was founded in 1989 by Baltimore native Mary Kraft, and today has employees in over 15 states. Since Kraft passed away in 2012, the firm has remained in the family, and is a certified MBE, WBE and DBE.

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Franciscan Center unveils new culinary training kitchen

The Franciscan Center of Baltimore recently cut the ribbon on a brand new culinary training kitchen for its ongoing culinary academy. The Kenneth S. Battye Culinary Training Kitchen, named for the charitable trust that has supported the nonprofit center since 2006, will welcome the largest class of the Dignity Plates Culinary Training Academy to date. The 13-week program launched in 2021 to provide a zero-cost culinary workforce training program to people seeking employment. The sixth class will start on March 27 with 15 students, selected out of nearly 80 applications from across Greater Baltimore, according to a release from the organization.

Baltimore nonprofit receives $350K grant

Helping Up Mission last week secured a $350,000 grant from the state's Opioid Operational Command Center, according to the nonprofit. The funds will be used to conduct an educational outreach campaign designed to encourage to women and mothers to seek addiction treatment and other services. Helping Up Mission is looking to bring the women into its new 250-bed center, which opened last year. The campaign and service center directly responds to a 2021 survey in which people in Baltimore experiencing homeless because of addiction said they didn't seek help because they didn't know the services existed, they didn't know how to sign up and they didn't know if they would qualify for help.

Baltimore museum gets $2M boost

East Baltimore's National Great Blacks in Wax Museum got an influx of $2 million in federal funding on Friday, which will be used to help the museum more than double in size to 25,000 square feet. The museum tells stories of African Americans throughout history in the form of wax figurines and attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors every year. For the next phase of the museum's updates, the facility will need $17 million for infrastructure upgrades and educational programming, WYPR reports.

Zeskind's acquires longtime Severna Park hardware store

I love this story from BBJ reporter Garrett Dvorkin this morning about the CEO of Zeskind's Hardware purchasing Severna Park's Clement Hardware store. Rick Miller grew up near the store and often frequented it, even though his family owned a hardware store in Baltimore City. Now, his company, Zeskind's Hardware & Millwork , is buying the place and renaming it Park Hardware as part of its own expansion. The deal will see the fourth-generation family business add a second retail hardware location and close its Arnold showroom to relocate it to the Severna Park space.

Super Mario Bros. as hot sauce bottles

If you're a hot sauce lover you've probably tried out TRUFF , an upscale truffle-flavored hot sauce brand you've probably noticed in the grocery aisle due to its flashy packaging. Well, the company recently landed a deal to develop a collectible package featuring hot sauces styled after characters Mario, Peach and Toad to be released alongside the upcoming "The Super Mario Bros. Movie." There's a cool story behind how Truff's director of marking saw an opportunity to get involved with the film, and made a successful pitch to NBCUniversal and Nintendo . Read about it from our partners at the Austin Business Journal.

This newsletter was written by Carley Milligan, Digital Editor at the Baltimore Business Journal. I can be reached at [email protected].?