LEONARDTOWN — St. Mary’s County families living on Temporary Cash Assistance will have more help climbing out of poverty this year after the county commissioners accepted $45,250 from the St. Mary’s County Department of Social Services for the local Circles program.
The Commissioners of St. Mary’s County approved the interagency agreement Oct. 27, with no opposition voiced, on behalf of the county’s Local Management Board. The money covers the fiscal year that ends June 30, 2027. With the $75,000 already on hand from the Governor’s Office for Children, Circles now has $120,250 to work with, and none of it comes from county taxpayers.
One commissioner made a point of confirming where the money comes from, then said he always likes programs that don’t cost the county anything.
How Circles works
Circles USA is a national model that treats poverty as partly a problem of isolation. Families working their way out, called Circle Leaders, are matched with trained community volunteers, called allies, who help them stabilize a crisis, pursue training and work, and then hold on to and advance in a job. A federal self-sufficiency profile of the program describes a network of more than 70 communities in 20 states and Canada.
Lori Jennings-Harris, director of the county Department of Aging and Human Services, told the commissioners the St. Mary’s effort started around 2023 or 2024 as a poverty alleviation system that builds relationships between families and the resources the county already has. The work is run jointly by Social Services and the county’s Human Services Division.
Asked how the program is going, presenters said it is going well but is still new, with lessons being learned along the way. They called the partnership between the two agencies a strong example of how braided funding and shared work can succeed.
Leadership change at Social Services
The agreement arrives during a transition at the Department of Social Services. Jennings-Harris introduced Charles Wood as the agency’s incoming acting director and said current Director Alexis Zoss is leaving at the end of October. Zoss was selected to lead the department in 2018. Amanda Meatyard, the Local Management Board coordinator, also attended to answer questions.
The commissioners took two votes: one to accept the agreement and allocate the $45,250, and a second to approve the budget amendment that realigns the project award. The same meeting, sitting as the Board of Health, brought an update on the county’s measles outbreak.
