The Baltimore Station, a residential and community-based therapy program for the homeless and those with substance use disorder, has created a partnership with the Crowne Plaza Baltimore-Inner Harbor Hotel managed by Crescent Hotels & Resorts in downtown Baltimore, to move its resident housing, counseling and alternative therapeutic programming to the 380-room hotel.
The hotel has designated five floors to the organization with room for future growth. The Baltimore Station will provide private accommodations to 60 residents from its South Baltimore and Baker Street locations and can expand its capacity to serve nearly 140 men. The organization will use common areas and meeting spaces on the floors for group therapy sessions, and alternative therapeutic programming such as chair yoga, letter writing, drumming and art therapy while continuing to social distance and to follow mask protocols.
“Our number one priority is to keep the men safe as we guide them down the road to recovery and this partnership allows us to do just that while ensuring they continue to receive critical programming and support,” said John Friedel, executive director, The Baltimore Station in a statement. “This is an operating strategy that is going to help us get through the pandemic. By taking the residents out of dormitory-style housing, we can more easily isolate individuals who may contract COVID and slow the spread if someone becomes infected.”
The new partnership is an extension of the organization and hotel’s previous partnership, which allowed The Baltimore Station to place new intakes to its program at the hotel to quarantine as they awaited their COVID-19 test results.
“This is a win-win for both organizations—we have the availability and they have the need. Together, through this partnership, we can give these residents a home away from home where they will remain safe and comfortable while still receiving the services from The Baltimore Station,” said Adam Novotny, general manager at the Crown Plaza Hotel. “We are privileged to partner with an organization that does real, tangible work in the city and state for a vulnerable population and look forward to seeing how this partnership continues to grow.”
The Crowne Plaza will continue to accommodate guests at the property. In an effort to ensure guests’ and associates’ safety during the pandemic, the hotel will implement IHG’s “Way of Clean” cleanliness standards, created with the guidance of a team of medical experts from the Cleveland Clinic and experts from Ecolab and Diversey. More information about “Way of Clean” is found at https://www.ihg.com/content/us/en/customer-care/clean-promise-gc.
