Report to the Community

Baltimore is winning because our city is working differently. Over the past year, by working together, we closed opportunity gaps in the summer, expanded access to paid learning opportunities for young people, and reimagined how public and private partners actually work together. These aren’t isolated programs; they are parts of a coordinated effort to build a more equitable, opportunity-rich city.

Our 2025 Report to the Community provides an update on CareerBound, the city’s coordinated system connecting young people to credentials, paid work experience, and in-demand jobs. In 2025, more young people in Baltimore—including those not in school or working—moved into real career pathways, earning credentials, gaining work experience, and stepping into paying jobs. Baltimore’s Promise, alongside City Schools and the Mayor’s Office of Employment Development, is helping make that possible through CareerBound.

Dive into the report to see how young people are leading and making a difference in our city. In 2025, Baltimore’s Promise celebrated its second cohort of Youth Grantmakers—young people who spent 18 months directing $550,000 in funding to support workforce and postsecondary opportunities for their peers. This is more than a grantmaking program. It is a model for how young people lead.

Learn more about our work to strengthen access reliable data so informed decisions are based on a fuller picture. The Baltimore City Youth Data Hub brings together data from across agencies, schools, and community organizations to create a clearer picture of how young people are navigating education, programs, and pathways.

We will continue to anchor ourselves in a simple truth: Baltimore’s story of greatness, resilience, imagination, and hard-earned progress is being written by Baltimoreans.