Baltimore, MD - Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake was joined by Dr. Andres Alonso, CEO of the Baltimore City Public School System, Karen Sitnick, Director of the Mayor’s Office of Employment Development, Gregory Bayor, Director of the Department of Recreation and Parks, Molly McGrath, Director of the Department of Social Services, Olivia Farrow, Interim Health Commissioner, and Rafael Lopez, President and CEO of Family League of Baltimore to announce the launch of the “Youth BMore” initiative. The initiative is part of the Mayor’s Youth Platform, an initiative that will ensure all city agencies are working together to maximize outcomes for BaltimoreCity youth.
“The two goals for this initiative are that our youth are ready to learn when they enter school, and ready to earn when they graduate high school,” said Mayor Rawlings-Blake. “Our objective is to ensure that every young person in BaltimoreCity has the tools they need to learn more, earn more, and be more this summer and throughout the year.”
The “Youth B’More” initiative will concentrate on four simple strategies to connect City youth to basic tools to succeed out of school, including:
- Connecting youth to nutrition, jobs, mentoring, and other programs,
- Leveraging private/public partnerships,
- Maximizing efficiency and collaboration among City agencies,
- And, evaluating our progress to ensure every dollar is spent where it counts the most
The Mayor unveiled a new website,
www.youthbmore.org. On this new website, families can search for programs or activities by name, or by zip code. “It’s not too late to sign your child up for summer camp, summer school, summer reading, summer food, and many other programs—and the Youth B’More website is your one-stop shop for all of them,” added Mayor Rawlings-Blake.
In addition to athletics and other recreation activities, the Mayor highlighted some the wide variety of programs available to young people this summer:
- The Enoch Pratt Free Library offers many different free Summer Reading programs for kids and teens including Aquarium on Wheels, musical performances, crafts and even a dog variety show;
- BaltimoreCity's Summer Food Service Program provides free breakfast and lunch to help children in low-income areas get the nutrition they need to learn, play and grow throughout the summer months. And, with the help of the Family League of Baltimore, the City is offering dinner to young people in 40 locations;
- Through the YouthWorks Summer jobs Program, 5,000 young people will have an opportunity to earn money and valuable experience this summer.
If families need additional information, they are being asked to call the Family League of Baltimore City, Inc. at 410-662-5500 or email
info@youthbmore.org.
