Together We Own It (TWOI) located in Westminster, Maryland announced on April 3rd that they will be “terminating all youth programs beginning April 6th; laying off staff and referring clients out to other agencies”.
This termination of programs and laying off staff (according to the statement on April 3rd) comes after losing contracts with Carroll County Public Schools and the (Carroll County) Department of Citizen Services for a “combined loss of over $100,000”.
Here is a look at the previous contract with Carroll County Public Schools (for an amount not to exceed $16,560 from September 1, 2022 to August 31, 2023): CCPS and Together We Own It Contract
The Observer has officially requested copies of previous contracts between Carroll County Government and TWOI but has not received the documents as of the publication of this article.
View the full statement from TWOI here on FACEBOOK
TWOI has announced they plan to follow through with their “Egg My Yard” event (April 7th and 8th) per a social media post on April 4th
There have been additional changes to the Together We Own It Board of Directors (per the TWOI website). It was previously reported that four Board Members names had been removed from the website (Zach Tomlin, Laura Morton, Ann Gilbert and Tasha Cramer) as of March 30th. A review of the website on April 6th reveals one additional name has been removed from the list of Board Members (Amy Chase Martin) as well as the Board position of Youth Representative is no longer listed on the website.
Here is a look at previous listings of Board Members and positions:
No official statement has been released regarding the changes to Board Member positions from TWOI (per a review of their website and social media channels).
The Carroll County Observer and Maryland Muckraker have written articles (in March and April of 2023) related to Together We Own It…and you can see a listing of those articles below:
CCPS terminates contract with Together We Own It amid serious allegations against the Executive Director of the organizationhttps://t.co/ICFjXVi1JU #CarrollCountyMD
— Carroll County Observer (@CarrollObserver) March 27, 2023
Via Maryland Muckraker: Westminster youth nonprofit founder named suspect in alleged sexual solicitation of a minorhttps://t.co/86pHf0NKeR#CarrollCountyMD
— Carroll County Observer (@CarrollObserver) March 27, 2023
Carroll County Kids for Equity Statement Regarding Allegations of Sexual Solicitation of a Minorhttps://t.co/vqgV8Pu9Ka #CarrollCountyMD
— Carroll County Observer (@CarrollObserver) April 1, 2023
Together We Own It issues statement on April 3rd related to the serious allegations against the Executive Directorhttps://t.co/7fmgQZgh0b #CarrollCountyMD
— Carroll County Observer (@CarrollObserver) April 4, 2023
Opinion from The Observer: I believe many hope that another entity will be able to fill the void left by Together We Own It. The services they have provided for students and residents are important to this community.
The Observer will continue to track the future of TWOI as they noted in their statement on April 3rd: “The Board of Directors will continue to meet to determine next steps for the organization moving forward”.
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[…] The Carroll County Observer reported on April 6th that The TWOI website, as of March 29, 2023 showed… […]