Baltimore Summer Funding Collaborative Announces $5.3 Million for Children & Youth Programs

Collaborative members – some of Baltimore’s largest public, private and nonprofit institutions – include the Abell Foundation, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Baltimore Children and Youth Fund, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Clayton Baker Trust, Constellation, Family League of Baltimore, France-Merrick Foundation, The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, The Hinkey-Benson Family Fund, Joseph & Harvey Meyerhoff Family Charitable Funds, Lockhart Vaughan Foundation, The Richman Family Foundation, and United Way of Central Maryland. 

While members of the Collaborative bring their own priorities to the table – including literacy, STEM, youth employment, and social-emotional wellness – they work together to make complementary funding decisions with the goal of supporting a diverse set of high-quality summer programs to reduce summer learning loss and ensure more youth have the chance to reach their full potential. The Collaborative is committed to ensuring that Baltimore City youth can access programs that allow them to learn and grow during the summer months and prepare them for success throughout the year. 

This year, the Collaborative welcomed the Baltimore Children and Youth Fund, which committed $2 million in funding for summer programs run by Black, Indigenous, and People of Color-led organizations and for programs serving older youth ages 14-24. The older youth priority was identified as a result of the Baltimore City Youth Opportunities Landscape (BCYOL), a citywide data collection and analysis effort conducted by Baltimore’s Promise that showed that older youth disconnected from school and work had the fewest out-of-school time opportunities available to them. Employing an explicit equity lens, BCYF and the Collaborative have expanded funding for stakeholders that public and philanthropic funding have historically under-resourced.  

“BCYF is honored to make an investment in older youth who are often overlooked and lack access to out-of-school time enrichment,” said Alysia Lee, President of the Baltimore Children & Youth Fund. “These young people are close to or in the beginning phases of adult-hood and they need to know they still have the support of their city and its institutions.”

In addition, Baltimore’s Promise facilitated a robust community review process for all 190 funding applications. The process engaged 11 community-based organizations and 150 individual reviewers. Reviewers used a Community Review Rubric developed from the findings of BCYOL, which in addition to mapping youth opportunities also engaged 161 young people, parents, and caregivers to understand local priorities for out-of-school time opportunities. The community review process provided SFC funders with in-depth insight into stakeholder perspectives. Many SFC funders either directly relied on community review results for decision-making or incorporated the scores and feedback into an existing decision-making process. The Baltimore Children and Youth Fund’s $2 million in funding, for example, was directly determined by community review results. In addition, all SFC 2022 applicants received feedback from the review process to support planning for their summer programs and future funding applications. 

“The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation is deeply appreciative of the time, effort, and expertise shared by community members and partner organizations throughout the SFC Community Review Process,” said Rachel Duden, Weinberg Foundation Program Officer, Education.

“The comprehensive Community Review Process enabled the Foundation to directly incorporate reviewers’ insightful feedback into the grants decision-making process. It is incredibly rewarding to see how the Collaborative and its impact have grown since its inception in 2015, both creating and expanding educational and employment opportunities for young people in Baltimore.”

The following organizations will receive funding from the Summer Funding Collaborative:
10:12 Sports¡Adelante Latina!A Revolutionary SummerAccess Art, Inc.Afrikan Youth Alchemy Art with a HeartArts for Learning Maryland AZIZA PE&CEB-360Backyard BasecampBaltimore Clayworks, Inc.Baltimore Curriculum ProjectBaltimore Youth ArtsBanner Neighborhoods Community CorporationBeadly Speaking Jewelry LLCBlack Girls CookBlack Wall Street Charm CityBon Secours Baltimore Community Works Bridges Baltimore Brittany K. Booker Foundation Inc.BYKE CollectiveCASACatherine’s Family and Youth Services, Inc.Child First Authority, Inc.Civic WorksCode in the SchoolsConvention of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the Diocese of MarylandCorner Team, Inc.Creative City Public Charter School Foundation, Inc.Dance and Bmore ProgramsDent EducationDewMore BaltimoreDigital Harbor FoundationDowntown Sailing Center Elev8 Baltimore, IncEnoch Pratt Free LibraryExcellence & Ambition Inc.From Prison Cells To PhDHampden Family CenterHeartSmilesHolistic Life FoundationI’m Still Standing Community CorporationIntersection of ChangeIslamic Leadership Institute of AmericaJohns Hopkins UniversityKEYS EMPOWERS, INC.Leaders of Tomorrow Youth Center IncLET’S GO Boys and Girls, Inc.Let’s Thrive BaltimoreLittle Flowers Early Childhood and Development Center, Inc. Living Classrooms FoundationMedical Education Resources Initiative for Teens Mending Broken Wings, LLCMentoring Mentors IncMiddle Grades PartnershipMindful Mentors Inc.MOMCaresMoving HistoryMTM Foundation, Inc.National AquariumNo Boundaries CoalitionOmega Baltimore Foundation. Inc.P.O.P. Inc.Parks & People Patterson Park Public Charter School, Inc.PeacePlayers InternationalProject PneumaR.I.S.E Arts Center of BaltimoreSafe Alternative Foundation for EducationSoccer Without Borders MarylandSpringboard CollaborativeSt Veronica Roman Catholic Congregation IncSt. Francis Neighborhood CenterSt. Vincent de Paul of Baltimorethe Board Room ChessThe Loyola School: Early Learning Center – Elementary K-4The Marching Elite FoundationThe Movement TeamThe Nolita Project IncUMBC FoundationUnique Fabrics NonprofitUniversity of Maryland, Baltimore Foundation, IncVillage Learning PlaceW.O.M.A.N.(Working Organizing Making A Nation)Wide Angle Youth MediaWomen in TransitionY in Central MarylandYouth As Resources 

This is the eighth year of summer youth funding provided by the Collaborative. Last summer, the Collaborative provided over $3.4 million in funding throughout Baltimore City and funded more than 6,700 summer youth opportunities.

Baltimore’s Promise is a cradle-to-career collective impact nonprofit that is the administrative backbone of the Baltimore Summer Funding Collaborative (www.bmoresfc.org). 

The mission of Baltimore‘s Promise is to coordinate strategy, identify quality programs, support alignment activities, establish shared measures for meaningful results, build public will, and advance policy on behalf of Baltimore City’s youth. For more information, please visit www.baltimorespromise.org.

For more information about the Baltimore City Youth Opportunities Landscape, please visit www.baltimorespromise.org/bcyol.