This year’s slate includes investments through the Grassroots Fund, which supports small, community-rooted organizations in carrying out their missions; the Community Accountable Fund, which invests in organizations with demonstrated accountability to youth and community, prioritizing underserved populations and Black and Brown-led organizations; the President’s Fund, a strategic investment fund for transformational opportunities, innovation, and high-impact partnerships; the Charm City Youth Athletics Fund, a citywide strategy focused on removing barriers to athletic participation for Baltimore City middle school students; and the Summer of Possibility Fund, which expands safe, joyful, and enriching summer opportunities for Baltimore’s children and youth. Together, these funds support organizations reaching young people through arts, education, athletics, leadership, wellness, culture, workforce development, summer programming, and so much more.
But the story is not only about who receives funding. It is also about how Baltimore participates in the process.
Organizations have access to free pre-application support, applications move through multiple stages of review and due diligence, and community members take part in helping determine where funding should go.
As Mi’Chael Pearson, a Northeast Baltimore resident and Community Grant Reviewer, shared:
“As a Baltimore resident/youth, being a community grant reviewer has allowed me to have a voice in decisions that directly affect young people and our communities.”
That matters because community investment should include community voice.
And once those decisions are made, we get to see what the funding actually makes possible.
For Dr. Erin Lonon, Founder & Executive Director of I Am A Child of God, Inc., that means deepening spaces where young people feel seen, heard, accepted, and equipped to thrive.
For Dion Bowen, it means creating the operational stability needed to sustain programs that have already grown through years of work, demand, and personal investment.
The President’s Fund also shows why flexibility matters in this work. It gives BCYF the ability to respond to emerging opportunities, new ideas, and specific community needs while continuing to advance outcomes for Baltimore’s children and youth.
That responsiveness allows us to invest in organizations and approaches that may look very different from one another, because young people and communities are different, too.
That is the larger story behind this year’s slate.
Baltimore made a choice to invest in young people. Community members continue choosing to be part of that process. And organizations across the city are turning those investments into real opportunities for young people every day.
