Responding with Care: Supporting Baltimore Youth When It Matters Most
Baltimore’s young people are talented, driven, and deeply invested in building a stronger future for themselves and our city. Every day, they bring creativity and determination to their education, jobs, and communities. And at Baltimore’s Promise, we believe something simple: when young people have the support they need, they don’t just get by—they thrive.
A Commitment to Youth Well-Being
That belief has guided our work from day one. It’s why Youth Well-Being is built into CareerBound. It’s why we created, with our Youth Grantmakers, the Forever 15 Fund to provide emergency support for young people experiencing crisis in Baltimore City. And it’s why, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when uncertainty was at its peak, we stepped in to manage the application portal for the City-funded, community-driven COVID-19 Emergency Assistance Program—making sure $6 million in food and household support reached 15,000 Baltimore residents quickly and equitably.
This history reflects something essential about our mission: we pay attention to the realities young people face not just when headlines break, but every single day.
In the Community
A Rapid Response to a Growing Need
The truth is, anyone can find themselves needing support, especially when the cost of necessities rises faster than wages and benefits. And no one in Baltimore wants their neighbors, their loved ones and friends, to have to choose between food and rent. That’s why the loss of SNAP benefits this fall hit so hard: nearly one in four households in our city rely on them.
Caring for young people means caring for the communities they call home. Each year around Thanksgiving, our team rolls up our sleeves and gets to work alongside partners and neighbors across the city for a day of service.
This year, we joined Community Advisory Board co-chair Linay Reed in Southwest Baltimore—handing out turkeys, sweet potato pies, and grocery cards to local neighbors and to families of students attending Excel Academy at Francis M. Wood High School.
This tradition of giving back has grown over the years: from cleaning up outdoor spaces at local schools, to helping a cultural institution prepare for its winter fundraiser, to pitching in wherever extra hands can make a difference. Together, we show up because Baltimore’s young people and families show up for our city every day.
And many of the young people in our programs are navigating these realities while still pushing forward—finishing school, starting careers, and planning futures. A Johns Hopkins University study found that 68% of applicants to our Grads2Careers initiative experience food insecurity. That number isn’t just a statistic—it’s a signal. It tells us young people are doing everything right, and still facing barriers no one should have to manage alone.
Recognizing the urgency, our team and funders acted quickly. Together, we redirected dollars originally set aside for long-term wraparound supports into an immediate emergency response. This fall, we mobilized up to $400,000 to provide $250 stipends to young people engaged in Baltimore’s Promise initiatives—including CareerBound and Grads2Careers students, Youth Grantmakers, and others. By the Friday before Thanksgiving, we had handed out nearly 350 gift cards.
These stipends won’t remove every financial challenge, but they do something meaningful: they buy breathing room. They help young people stay focused on their education, training, and goals at a moment when other supports have been pulled back and costs continue to climb.
The Work’s Not Done
Our vision for Baltimore is this: a city where young people and communities can thrive. To get there, we must create conditions where basic needs are met—where young people don’t have to push aside their dreams to cover short-term emergencies.
Meeting that vision requires both immediate support and long-term, systemic solutions. The emergency stipends are one piece of a much larger puzzle, and we are committed to continuing the work on all fronts. But stepping up quickly this fall meant reallocating funds—funds we now need to rebuild so we can respond just as quickly the next time a need arises.
As we enter the Season of Caring, we are deeply grateful for our funders and partners who share our belief in young people and who helped make this rapid response possible. Now, we invite our community to stand with us in replenishing the resources that ensure young people always have somewhere to turn.
Join us this Season of Caring
A gift to the Forever 15 Fund—or to any organization lifting up young people and families in Baltimore—helps us meet emerging needs today while continuing the long-term work of helping youth thrive. Your support keeps the promise alive.