Baltimore’s young people deserve better: Let’s fund and trust community-rooted youth programs

As a lifelong resident of West Baltimore and someone who’s spent my career in youth development, I know Baltimore’s young people are brilliant, resilient, and full of promise. But I also know the long, painful history of how systemic racism, redlining, and disinvestment have shaped their lives — and too often robbed them of the opportunities they deserve.

We are at a pivotal moment.

Under Mayor Brandon Scott’s leadership and through the significant investments of the Baltimore Children & Youth Fund (BCYF), we’re beginning to witness serious efforts to address some of these historical injustices. However, if we genuinely want to create a better future for our young people, we must dig deeper.

That means making real investments in grassroots, Black- and brown-led organizations that have been holding up our youth for decades. It also means our city must shift from gatekeeping to genuine partnership with community leaders and young people.

The disinvestment in Baltimore’s youth programs isn’t new. We’ve experienced it through shuttered rec centers, aging school buildings, and neighborhoods lacking safe places for kids to grow and thrive.

Despite the odds, Baltimore is lucky to have incredible grassroots organizations that have never stopped showing up for our young people.

Groups like Let’s Thrive Baltimore, in Sandtown, provide mentorship and violence interruption led by individuals who have lived the same struggles, while in Cherry Hill, the Restoring Inner-City Hope Program (RICH) offers job readiness training, mental health support and violence prevention workshops. Other programs have creative approaches, like For My Kidz, in West Baltimore, which creates spaces where young people can express themselves through the arts and build leadership skills, or Aziza Peace, a citywide program offering healing-centered programs that help youth process trauma and build resilience.

These are just some of the many groups helping Baltimore’s youth see a pathway forward. And yet, they’re underfunded while larger, often white-led organizations — sometimes with only loose ties to the communities they serve — receive the bulk of the resources.

Thankfully, that’s starting to change. BCYF’s recent $9.55 million investment in summer programming and the creation of the Youth Athletics Fund — a partnership between the Mayor’s Office, Baltimore City Public Schools, and BCYF — are giant steps forward. These investments are not just about money. They signal that Baltimore is serious about changing the game for our youth.

Mayor Scott’s administration has shown a real commitment to listening to communities and prioritizing equity. But we need to keep pushing. While large organizations have their place, the work that changes lives happens closest to the ground — by trusted, community-rooted groups. They deserve not just our thanks but sustained, meaningful investment.

This is where the City Council comes in. Our councilmembers can move away from top-down, politically driven decisions and instead build true partnerships with grassroots leaders. That means showing up in neighborhoods regularly, listening to young people and all community members and making decisions based on what they hear and know, not just what looks good on paper.

One young person who participated in the Nobody Asked Me Campaign’s Elevating Youth Voice study summed it up perfectly when asked about Baltimore’s politicians: “It’s like we’re invited to the party, but never asked to dance.” We have to do better than that.

We also need a long-term strategy to keep this work moving forward, and can look to other cities facing similar challenges for ideas.

In New Orleans, for example, young people and grassroots organizations collaborated with city leaders in 2020 to develop a Youth Masterplan, outlining long-term strategies that align services, funding and accountability across various agencies. It’s working — and we can do the same here.

In Baltimore, a longer-term strategy should prioritize funding for grassroots, Black- and brown-led organizations, while centering youth leadership and voice at every stage.

All of this will require coordinated efforts across city agencies, nonprofits, schools and businesses to maximize impact. To ensure transparency and accountability, regular public reporting can keep the community informed and involved.

A plan like this would provide Baltimore with a roadmap — a bold, shared vision that ensures every young person has access to opportunities, support, and joy, regardless of their ZIP code. It’s time to get to work.