Fusion Partnerships, Inc.

The pandemic created an urgent need to get individuals and families experiencing homelessness off the streets, out of shelters and into homes. Many organizations have been successful in placing these families in apartments; but once there, they have no furniture and end up sleeping and eating on cold bare floors.  These folks are in desperate need of beds, mattresses and other basic furniture and household goods.  

The Baltimore Furniture Bank has been delivering free furniture to those in need since 2017 and is the only furniture bank in the Baltimore Area.  We have a committed team and a warehouse full of gently used furniture but need your generosity so we can rent additional delivery trucks and hire more warehouse crews to meet this increasing demand!
 
We have the people, we have the warehouse, we have the furniture, now WE NEED YOU to help us deliver more furniture to families in need!  No donation is too small!  Please donate today!

The Baltimore Furniture Bank is a project under Fusion Partnerships, LL a 501 (c) 3 non-profit.  Donations are tax deductible.

After a year of visitor restriction policies, doulas are finally allowed back in most birthing locations in the Baltimore area. Pregnant people continue to face added stress and uncertainty due to COVID-19, making doula care more important and valuable than ever. As a small nonprofit, we rely on the generosity of our donors to fund our sliding scale birth doula work. These donations allow us to provide doula services to people regardless of their ability to pay. All of the money raised goes directly to our doulas to pay them for their services. Our doulas come from diverse cultural backgrounds, have a myriad of experiences, speak multiple languages, and are committed to keeping birth doula care accessible, evidence-based, and adaptable to this challenging environment. Please support our work with a donation today!

The Baltimore Doula Project believes that everyone deserves to feel supported, informed, and in control during their birthing and postpartum experience. A doula can play a critical role during labor and early postpartum by providing emotional, physical, and informational support to the pregnant or parenting persons. As birth and postpartum doulas, we prioritize our clients' health, preferences, autonomy, and comfort so that they can have the best possible experience. Unfortunately, for many people, doula care is not accessible because of cost and insurance doesn't cover doula services in Maryland. We believe that all pregnant people should have access to continuous, evidence-based, and non-judgmental support regardless of income level, race, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, education, or immigration status.

In 2020 we raised over $5,000 from community donations and were able to support 14 birthing people!

This is what our doula services cost*:

$800 covers full birth doula services for one client
$550 covers labor-only doula support
$250 covers doula support throughout pregnancy
$50 covers a two-hour prenatal or postpartum meeting
$25 covers one hour of postpartum doula support

*These were the rates that our doulas were paid in 2020 and are subject to change (hopefully increase) based on the amount of funding we have.

 
Thank you so much for helping make doula care accessible in Baltimore!

October 2019 UPDATE

A year since my shooting and, with your support, we’ve made so much progress!

On Wednesday October 31, 2018, a frustrated, and misguided young man came into the barbershop shooting. He wasn’t aiming for me, but I was shot along with another client. I was lucky...clearly God was telling me that I had a lot more work to do here in Baltimore, and that’s what I’ve been doing with a sense of urgency and your support and the outpouring of love I’ve received across the city of Baltimore. 

I’M SO HAPPY TO SHARE THE GREAT PROGRESS WE’VE MADE. 

A quick step back - for 30 years, I’ve been a barber in Baltimore. My shop - New Beginnings in Hollins Market - is much more than a barbershop. It’s where I share my passion for art with the community, it’s where my son Rashad brings young men together to talk about their dreams and challenges in ShopTalk meetings, and it’s where I join with businesses to bring health screenings and vital services to the community. 

Being a barber is how I make a living, but the community inside and outside the barbershop is my life. My focus over this past year has been working to  share our experiences at New Beginnings with barbers across Baltimore - to significantly scale positive impact.

With the outpouring of support, in December 2019, I launched "More Than A Shop" (MTAS) - a network of barbershops and beauty salons across the city of Baltimore.  Funds have been used to bring shops together and share how to replicate our model to bring much-needed services to their shops and neighborhoods including:

* Health screenings in partnership with Kaiser Permanente
* Expungement support services with Baltimore City’s Job Opportunity Task Force
* Conflict resolution skills with Safe Streets and CeaseFire
* Safe sex awareness with the Baltimore City Health Department

We’re learning how to best broaden the base of shops within Baltimore to prove the MTAS model.  But we’re just at the beginning.

I’m thankful for the companies who have reached out to learn how they can work with and through barber shops in their neighborhoods.

I’ve also been invited to speak about this experience and MTAS since the shooting. I appreciate these opportunities as they let me recognize the outpouring of support from you and the organizations that showed up to support my work over the last year. 

I’m currently applying for fellowships and grants to continue the work. I hope you’ll once again consider helping me to reach more people with my work through my organization, the Luvs Art Project.  Help me reach more young people so they can see their possibilities beyond hopelessness and violence.

Will you help me raise $15,000 to grow our impact with More Than a Shop throughout 2020?  

A bullet did not stop me - it spurred me to action. I’m ready to grow further, to keep pushing for our community, especially for young men like the man who shot me, whose life circumstances lead them to feel they have no option other than violence. I want to reach them and show them that there is another way.  I’m also grateful for the opportunity to pass on my skills and wisdom -  to be teaching the next generation of barbers thru a new program launching soon with city schools.

Thank you for supporting my dream and my vision! 

Troy Staton is organizing this fundraiser on behalf of the Luvs Art Project, fiscally sponsored by Fusion Partnerships, Inc.  Donations are 100% tax deductible.

__________________________________

December 2018 Update

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR SUPPORTING THE LUVSART PROJECT.  THIS IS THE FIRST GRASSROOTS SUPPORT I'VE GOTTEN FOR MY WORK, AND I'M GRATEFUL! LET'S KEEP IT GOING. MORE SUPPORT MEANS MORE WORK CAN GET DONE, AND WE HAVE A LOT TO DO TO END THE VIOLENCE IN OUR CITY. 

For 30 years, I’ve been a barber in Baltimore. For the last 10 years, I’ve had New Beginnings Barbershop in Hollins Market in Southwest Baltimore. My shop is much more than a barbershop. It’s where I share my passion for art with the community, it’s where my son Rashad brings young men together to talk about their dreams and challenges in ShopTalk meetings, and it’s where I join with businesses to bring health screenings and services to the community. 

Being a barber is how I make a living, but the community inside and outside the barbershop is my life. 

On Wednesday October 31st, a frustrated, and misguided young man came into the barbershop shooting. He wasn’t aiming for me, but I was shot along with another client. I was lucky...clearly God is telling me that I have a lot more work to do here, and that’s what I plan to do.


So many of you have reached out to me asking how you can help or what you can do.

Here’s the answer: help me reach more people with my work through my organization, the Luvs Art Project. Help me reach more young people so they can see their possibilities beyond hopelessness and violence.

When I first launched the LuvsArt Project, our mission was to bring art to the community and the community to the arts.  But, as I gathered people around art, I realized that our ability to bring people together served a deeper purpose, and we expanded our work to community gatherings, health screening, ShopTalks, block parties, and other activities that help us all find the beauty in each other.

Will you help me raise $5,000 for the LuvsArt Project?  With that, the LuvsArt Project will curate an art exhibition and series of community dialogues about violence in our City.  We need to talk -for real - about this issue.

A bullet is not going to stop me. I’m ready to elevate even further, to keep pushing for our community, especially for young men like the man who shot me, whose life circumstances lead them to feel they have no option other than violence. I want to reach them and show them that there is another way. We have to do better as a city.

Will you join me in reaching more people? Thank you for supporting my dream and my vision. 

Luvs Art Project is a 501c3, fiscally sponsored by Fusion Partners.