Baltimore Children & Youth Fund Awards $10 Million to Grassroots Organizations, Empowering Youth and Communities

The Baltimore Children & Youth Fund (BCYF) has taken a monumental step towards fostering youth leadership and community engagement by awarding over $10 million in grants to more than 175 grassroots organizations. This initiative, announced during BCYF Month, highlights the fund's unwavering commitment to equity and the empowerment of Baltimore's youth. The grants are specifically targeted at organizations that excel in engaging young people in meaningful, community-rooted activities, ensuring that the city's future is shaped by those it aims to serve.

This year's selection of grantees, including notable organizations such as The Chris Wilson Foundation, Youth As Resources, and Ballet After Dark, Inc., was made through an innovative intergenerational Community Grant Review process. Remarkably, nearly half of the reviewers were young people themselves, ensuring that the funding decisions genuinely reflect the aspirations and needs of Baltimore's youth. Beyond financial support, BCYF offers free technical assistance to grant applicants, aiding in program development, budgeting, and data collection to amplify their impact.

The transformative potential of this funding is vividly illustrated by the experiences of new grantees like Devin Jackson of A Prosperous Tomorrow, who shared how the grant enables the expansion of programs that equip youth with high-value skills, thereby reengineering futures and shifting possibilities for an entire generation. Similarly, Michael Rosenband of Requity lauded the inclusive and enriching partnership with BCYF, which has facilitated broader conversations and a sense of belonging to a larger, invaluable movement.

Alysia Lee, President of BCYF, underscored the fund's pivotal role in constructing an infrastructure around community-rooted excellence, ensuring that Baltimore's young people are enveloped by opportunities. Since its launch in 2020, BCYF has disbursed over $31 million to programs serving children and youth in Baltimore, funded by the city's tax dollars. This initiative, emerging from the unrest following Freddie Gray's death, confronts longstanding inequities in public funding within Black communities, representing a critical stride towards systemic change and a brighter future for Baltimore's youth.