It’s about the people

RIDGELY – As far as Scott Evans is concerned, it’s the relationships that drive philanthropy.

Despite belt-tightening by federal and state funding sources, the executive director of Benedictine counts on consistent “personal and professional” advocacy for the children and adults “living with intellectual and developmental disabilities so they can achieve their greatest potential,” according to its website, benschool.org.

The support is appreciated because – as always – Benedictine has big plans as it celebrates its 65^th anniversary and continues its Transforming Lives campaign.

In the works is an $8 million construction project for a new residential facility on the site of the living quarters of the Benedictine Sisters who founded the original monastery. It was their original home base as they ministered to and educated thousands over the years on the 134-acre campus north of Ridgely.

“We're also looking to renovate another building here on our campus for the adults, for their day programming and employment discovery and job development, and then also unrestricted funds to help us with all the other stuff that we need, whether that be HVAC units or staff incentives,” Evans said.

Willow Construction of Easton is building a new school residential wing that will “better accommodate, from a physical environment perspective, the needs of our students here on campus,” Evans said. Residential students number 35 to 40, with some living in local group homes.

“Many of the primary education and student residential facilities on the campus were built in the late 1960’s,” according to a Benedictine presentation. “The facilities are at the end or nearing the end of their useful life and need significant enhancements or replacement. Additionally, Benedictine now serves an autism population with significant sensory sensitivities that current facility design is not sufficiently supporting.”

With long-time drainage problems to be repaired along with a new foundation poured, the three wings of the new residences will feature six apartment-type units with individual bedrooms will be fully accessible.

The campus is like a “self-contained little college campus,” Evans said, with its own water tower and wastewater treatment facility. “It was great during Covid, to be honest. … We never closed, so we were able to spread out better on the campus.”

Past the Covid pandemic, and out in the community again, are the adults who are employed by many in the Mid-Shore area. “We support those adults that are in our program to have their best lives, to reach their goals,” he said.

Benedictine is Caroline County’s largest private employer, with about 385 employees and about a $30 million annual operating budget, Evans said. “Most people aren't aware that this organization is that big and economically impactful to the local area.” Also on campus is Martin’s House and Barn, which the Sisters also founded.

About 50 students ages 5 to 21 are supported through educational and residential services, about 67 adults 21 and older are supported residentially in 18 community group homes, 93 adults are supported through employment and day services, and 27 students and adults are supported in Easton through the Division of Rehabilitation Services programs.

“Our operation is 24/7/365, and not only here on the campus, but with our 21 homes as well,” he said. “We’re a school, but we're much more than the school as well, with the adult program and all the other ancillary functions that we have.”

The Benedictine School is only one of five organizations in the state offering special education and residential services for students with ID/DD, Autism, and/or multiple disabilities. The School is an approved Autism Waiver Provider for Residential Habilitation Services and has prevented higher levels of placements such as hospitalizations and/or out of state placements of students.

Making the numbers work

“We as an organization have to put all these (financial) pieces together to develop our budget so that in times like this, to be honest, of uncertainty, that diversity does help us,” he said. “So that does help us balance it out, if you will, from a budget standpoint.”

“All of our funding comes through the state,” Evans said. Benedictine bills the state, “and then the state gets a match from the federal government.” The education funding is funneled through the Maryland State Department of Education. The school residential program is funded through multiple agencies, and the adult program is funded through a waiver program. The Benedictine Foundation funding is “about 3% of our total funding, with 97% of our funding coming from public funding.” Those funds don’t cover capital expenditures.

Evans said Benedictine “landed … in a much better place at the end of the year “ financially because of the “unwavering advocacy” of “groups like the Maryland Association of Community Services (MACS), … the Arc of Maryland, and People on the Go Maryland,” among others.

The Developmental Disabilities (DD) coalition “really helped organize a groundswell of advocacy from individuals throughout the state,” Evans said.  

“And Annapolis helped us put a lot of money back into the budget, but we still did experience cuts,” he said.

On its website, MACS stated Feb. 24 that “members of Maryland’s developmental disabilities (DD) community remain deeply disappointed in Governor Moore’s budget decisions that cut $200 million in general funds, resulting in a devastating $457 million (state and federal) cut for FY26. This represents a 22% reduction in funding for critical DD services and supports for Marylanders with developmental disabilities such as autism, cerebral palsy, and Down syndrome.”

“I have to say the legislature did come through as best as they can, given their tight budget constraints, and helped us out,” he said. “That said, we still experienced some cuts, but they weren't as bad as what it looked like in the beginning. We're still trying to figure out what those cuts look like from our operational standpoint. We still don't have all the answers from all the different funding sources, but in the beginning, when the governor put out his first budget, it did look like we could lose close to a million dollars in funding.”

That anticipated deficit “is much less now, but there's a lot of variables that we have to work within,” Evans said. “For some funding sources, we don't know what the rates will be yet. We haven't been notified officially on what they call the autism waiver side, which is working with our school residential program.”

Interestingly, the very complexity of Benedictine’s programming tends to level out the risk when funding is cut back.

“We are a very complicated organization with multiple funding sources,” Evans said. However, “one benefit about Benedictine is our diversity of programs from children to adults. The complicated piece of that diversity is there's multiple funding sources and funding agencies at the state level that flow into each of those areas.”

The 3% to 4% provided by the Benedictine Foundation “helps us with the operational (side), but then we have all the capital that we need to raise funds for,” Evans said, and that includes the new school residential wing. “We're still working on public funding for that, the logic being that the students we support here are public school students from throughout Maryland, and therefore we're funded operationally for them, but not capital-wise.”

Benedictine currently serves families from 17 of Maryland’s 24 jurisdictions. The Benedictine School isn’t a private school; it’s an extension of the Maryland Public School System.

“It's always a balancing act over what we're getting from the state, what we can pass along to employees, and what the foundation can then come in to help support,” he said.

Benedictine has worked closely with the Maryland legislature and Governors Moore and Hogan to get those capital funds “through bond bills and other avenues,” as well as the Caroline County Commissioners, who have approved applications for Community Development Block Grants (CDBG), he said.

“I know where the state's coming from, because of the uncertainty at the federal level,” Evans said.” And you know, not only with the potential layoffs that would impact the income tax base here (in Maryland), because we're disproportionately impacted by any layoffs at the federal level, … but also the potential cuts to Medicaid, which is our primary funding source for our adult program and our school residential program.”

“Medicaid dollars flow from the federal to the state and then to us. We have national groups watching that. But it seems like, at times, the train has already left the station,” he said. “That's very scary to us, because we have less impact at the federal level than we do at the state level.”

The Caroline County Commissioners approved the Community Development Block Grant through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) that allowed construction to begin on the first phase of the Transforming Lives campaign. The loop road and other site improvements have been completed, while the second phase – new student residences, a nursing station and recreational spaces is under construction. The next phase in 2026 will include the construction of new classrooms and therapy areas, and the final phase will include employment training and engagement program upgrades.

The importance of relationships

Evans praised his staff who work with students and supported adults. “They are professionals. They are highly trained through our programs, and that's why we fight for a lot of funding. They deserve better wages, but that has to come through the funding from the feds and the state.”

A native of Havertown, Pennsylvania, and graduate of Villanova University, Evans, 56, lives in Church Hill with his wife Jennifer and their teenaged son and daughter. He has been with Benedictine since 2000 and became executive director in 2012.

“The unique part about us as an organization is while we're located outside of Ridgely, our students come from across the state, so they're not necessarily local to the Shore,” Evans said. Although the Eastern Shore delegation has been “extremely supportive. … When we go to advocate in Annapolis, especially for our school program, we can talk to any legislator down there because, more than likely, we've had a student or a constituent from their district at one time or another.”

While it’s important for the community to help support the work of Benedictine by clicking the “donate” button on the website, “what's important is the community interacts with us in different ways,” Evans said.

“I think that community interaction and community support is even more important,” Evans said. “By that, I mean in multiple ways: by helping with the individuals we support, by giving them job opportunities. We have groups that come here and bring Christmas gifts to those that may be here during the year. There's a lot of ways to help. So, the donate button is important, but also reaching out and seeing what other ways you may be able to volunteer and help is just as important.”

For more information about Benedictine, visit benschool.org.