Local management board unveils community needs assessment highlighting place-based disparities in Carroll County

The Carroll County Local Management Board presented its six-month community needs assessment to the Board of Commissioners on Sept. 18, describing countywide strengths and place-based disparities concentrated in the City of Westminster and the Town of Union Bridge.

Local management board manager Ed Singer said the assessment combines secondary data from state and national sources with input from more than 400 community members and local focus groups. "This needs assessment was conducted by the local management board in partnership with due east. It combines secondary data from more than a dozen state, county, and national sources with input from over 400 community members here," he said.

Maddie Eslinger, the board’s Enough community engagement coordinator, summarized the four pillars guiding the Enough initiative: high-quality childcare and education; family health; economic stability and basic needs; and safe and thriving communities. Key findings included:

- Education: Carroll County’s high school graduation rate is reported at 95 percent, and third-grade English/language-arts proficiency at 61 percent versus 47 percent statewide; kindergarten readiness was noted at 58 percent overall but with lower rates for students with disabilities, multilingual learners, Black and Hispanic children. Chronic absenteeism affects about 1 in 5 students, organizers said.

- Family health: The presentation said infant mortality is about half the state average and only about 3 percent of residents lack health insurance, but mental-health service capacity is strained; providers have long wait times and some are not accepting new patients. The board noted that nearly one in five high-school students had seriously considered suicide.

- Economic stability: The countywide child-poverty rate was reported at 6 percent with a median household income near $116,000. Place-based disparities are more pronounced: Union Bridge was described as having an 18 percent overall poverty rate and a 33 percent child poverty rate, while the Westminster focus area shows higher-than-county poverty (roughly 11 percent overall and 13 percent for children). The assessment flagged a sizeable ALICE population (households above the federal poverty line yet struggling to afford basics).

- Safe and thriving communities: Presenters said homelessness is at a five-year high, with 556 people reported in the most recent count; school homelessness and juvenile complaints have increased in recent years, and community members expressed concerns about trust in law enforcement and limited recreation infrastructure.

Ed Singer said the assessment is intended as a roadmap for coordinated investments and partner-led action. He described the local management board’s role as convenor rather than direct service provider: "the local management board doesn't provide very much as far as direct services are concerned. What we do is, we're the glue that kinda pulls everybody in the community together to figure out who can do what to try to address some of the needs that we've identified in this plan," he said.

Representatives from the Governor's Office for Children were on hand; program manager Misaki Valentine noted the state’s capacity-building grant funding supports county boards across Maryland. Commissioners asked follow-up questions about ALICE definitions, geographic differences in housing costs, the effects of pre-K programs on kindergarten readiness and local strategies to reduce chronic absenteeism and improve behavioral-health access.

Commissioners and presenters discussed next steps including prioritized place-based investments in Union Bridge and Westminster, coordination with the school system and the development of an asset map to make services more discoverable to first responders and residents. The board did not take formal action during the presentation; staff said the next phase will be translating the plan into prioritized programming and funding requests.