The Youth Master Plan builds on decades of youth leadership, grassroots organizing, and community visioning in Baltimore. For years, young people and community organizations have called for a coordinated roadmap that reflects their priorities and holds the city accountable.

BCYF itself was created out of this history, born from the advocacy of youth and grassroots leaders who pushed for public funds to be directed toward community-driven solutions. Since 2018, BCYF has invested millions in youth-serving organizations, built partnerships across the city, and launched the learning lab to strengthen nonprofit capacity.

How We Got Here

• 2023 – Opening Plenary, Montgomery, Alabama
  Eighty BCYF grantees visited the Legacy Museum to reflect on equity, justice, and systemic change. This experience became a call to action: grassroots leaders emphasized the need for deeper collaboration and for organizations to act as change agents in Baltimore.
• Research and Learning
  Through the learning lab, BCYF explored national models of grassroots youth development. The New Orleans Youth Master Plan stood out for its clarity and its North Star of centering youth voice.
• 2024 – Exchange Visit to New Orleans
  Sixty BCYF grantees traveled to New Orleans to learn directly from the architects of the plan. They returned with practical insights on how to build an equity-centered, youth-led roadmap in Baltimore.
• Today
  With these lessons and the vision of Baltimore’s grassroots leaders, BCYF is launching the city’s first Youth Master Plan — a historic step toward a just, abundant, and creative future for young people.

The Baltimore Youth Master Plan unfolds in three interconnected stages. Each stage deepens engagement, builds skills, and moves the city from vision to action. Along the way, every stage produces concrete deliverables — reports, toolkits, convenings, and creative outputs — that keep the community informed and accountable. Together, these stages create a cycle of listening, learning, and accountability that ensures the plan reflects Baltimore’s youth and community voices.

• Stage A: Getting Started Together (October–December 2025)
  Building awareness, launching Street Teams, creating shared language, and hosting The Gathering. Deliverables include the Community Definitions graphic novel, a citywide Engagement Report, and a Messaging & Engagement Toolkit.
• Stage B: Gathering Voices (January–August 2026)
  Capturing stories, surveys, and community priorities through gather! dinners, solution sessions, and exhibitions. Deliverables include a Solutions Session Toolkit, Opening Plenaries Learning Report, a Community Assessment, and the “What We Heard” community presentation.
• Stage C: Making It Real (Fall 2026–Spring 2027)
  Finalizing the Youth Master Plan, publishing reports, and launching public accountability tools. Deliverables include the five-part BYMP framework (Blueprint, Playbook, MixTape, Megaphone, Priorities), progress dashboards, and a youth-led launch celebration.

The Baltimore Youth Master Plan (BYMP) is our city’s first community-driven roadmap for young people: built with youth voice, grassroots leadership, and collective action at its core. 

We are inviting organizations and individuals across Baltimore to become Baltimore Youth Master Plan Builders: partners who commit to supporting and advancing the plan.

Why Become a Builder?

By signing on as a Builder, you will:

• Stand with Baltimore’s young people in shaping a just, abundant, and creative future.
• Join a growing list of committed partners working to put youth voice at the center of citywide priorities.
• Receive updates and invitations to participate in solution sessions, exhibitions, and action tables.
• Be recognized publicly in BCYF communications and reports as part of the Builder network.

Becoming a Youth Master Plan Builder means you’re co-creating the future alongside Baltimore’s young people.

Sign Up Today

For Organizations

Commit your organization as a Youth Master Plan Builder – Organization and take an active role in advancing the plan.  Sign Up Your Organization

For Individuals

Pledge your personal support as a Youth Master Plan Builder – Individual and add your voice to the movement. Sign Up as an Individual

Together, We Build the Future

The Youth Master Plan belongs to Baltimore’s young people — but it will only succeed if the entire community commits to building it together. Join us as a Youth Master Plan Builder and help shape the city our youth deserve.

The Youth Master Plan is a living process that the whole city can see, track, and shape. This page is where Baltimore can follow along with progress at every stage.

10 Core Metrics

We track ten key measures that show how the plan is moving forward. Updated twice in every stage, these metrics give the city a clear picture of reach, participation, and impact.

What We Measure:

1. Youth engaged across events, surveys, and gather! dinners
2. Youth leadership roles (Street Teams, Steering Committee, Action Tables)
3. Representation from all 14 City Council districts
4. Community members engaged overall
5. Hours of technical assistance provided
6. Organizations participating in the learning lab
7. Community events and convenings held
8. Satisfaction ratings from learning lab participants
9. Stage deliverables completed on time
10. Public reach (reports viewed/downloaded, toolkit access, exhibition attendance)

Stage Reports & Deliverables

At the end of each stage, we release a public progress report along with tools and creative outputs.

• Stage A (Getting Started Together)
  
  
  • Engagement Report
  • Community Definitions Graphic Novel
  • Messaging & Engagement Toolkit
    
    
• Stage B (Gathering Voices)
  
  
  • Solutions Session Toolkit
  • Opening Plenaries Learning Report
  • Community Assessment
  • “What We Heard” Community Presentation
    
    
• Stage C (Making It Real)
  
  
  • Final Youth Master Plan (Blueprint, Playbook, MixTape, Megaphone, Priorities)
  • Public Dashboard updated with final stage metrics
  • Youth-led Launch Celebration

Tools & Resources

These resources are created to help youth, families, nonprofits, and partners stay engaged and aligned with the plan.

• Graphic Novels — Creative storytelling resources co-created with youth and community artists.
• Solutions Session Toolkit — Resources for hosting your own solution session.
  
  

Shareable Infographics

We believe accountability should be easy to understand and share. At every update, we release simple, youth-friendly graphics that highlight progress across the 10 Core Metrics.

In short, community reviewers play a key role in helping us assess whether an organization is a suitable candidate for BCYF funding.

Their main responsibilities include:

• Attending five in-person sessions
• Reading and scoring applications
• Actively participating in the decision-making process

Each reviewer will be assigned to a group, led by a Group Facilitator. Everyone in the group will review the same applications, using our online platform, both individually and as a group. The Group Facilitator will guide discussions to finalize scores. During a consensus session, the group will collectively decide which organizations to recommend for funding.