Baltimore council hearing spotlights summer youth funding gap as city outlines 2025 plan

A joint hearing of the Baltimore City Council’s Education, Youth and Older Adults Committee and Public Safety Committee convened at Edmondson Westside High School to review the city’s summer youth engagement strategy and identify remaining funding and access gaps for summer 2025.

Councilman John Bullock (Education, Youth and Older Adults Committee) and Councilman Mark Conway (Public Safety Committee) led the May hearing, which brought agency leaders, nonprofit providers, school officials and dozens of residents and youth to the school in the Eighth District to testify about summer jobs, programs and safety plans.

The heart of the hearing was a mix of status reports and appeals: city officials described coordinated events, employment slots and outreach plans while nonprofit leaders and parents asked the council for additional funding and help removing practical barriers such as transportation and documentation.

Why this matters: summer programming combines employment, enrichment and supervision for thousands of Baltimore youth and is tied by city leaders to both educational outcomes and public safety. Multiple presenters said federal and pandemic-era funding streams that previously supported programs are ending, requiring the city and philanthropic partners to make up the difference.

Most significant numbers and commitments: officials said the mayor’s YouthWorks employment program will offer 8,500 paid positions in 2025, down from about 9,313 youth employed in 2024. Baltimore City Public Schools said it expects roughly 12,000 student seats for district-led summer learning this year, down from roughly 20,000 seats the district offered previously. The Baltimore Children and Youth Fund (BCYF) presented a combined $9.5 million investment for summer 2025, including an emergency $4.9 million contribution to YouthWorks and $2.9 million for the Summer Funding Collaborative to support community-based programs.

Council and agency presentations emphasized three pillars of the mayor’s approach: engagement (events and programs such as pool parties, block parties and mobile recreation), outreach (street-level relationship-building and referrals for services) and enforcement (coordinated accountability for youth involved in criminal activity). Assistant Deputy Mayor Noelle Lou Gay and Director Stephanie Mavronis described expanded outreach teams, later-night recreation openings at selected rec centers and a youth connection center downtown to triage needs and refer young people to services.

“We have a plan,” Tyler Schnella, Deputy Director for Government Relations in the Mayor’s Office, told the hearing. “Our goal is to ensure that we keep our young people safe, connected, and engaged.”

Nonprofit leaders and parents provided concrete examples of the consequences of cuts and the value of programs. Alicia Lee, president and CEO of the Baltimore Children and Youth Fund, said BCYF was reallocating emergency dollars to maintain jobs and community programs: “BCYF is investing $9,500,000 to expand opportunities for youth across Baltimore,” she said, listing the core allocations and describing compliance safeguards the fund uses for grantees. Ojeda (Ojeda) Hall, executive director of Child First Authority, warned that a $40,000 reduction to her organization would cut a five-week program to four weeks and reduce field trips, summer meals and instructional hours for partner schools.

Council members and agency staff discussed additional barriers raised by speakers: transportation to sites, limited multilingual outreach for immigrant families, and documentation problems that keep some youth from enrolling or working. City agencies said they have translated materials, run Spanish-language review panels and are piloting targeted outreach with community partners; YouthWorks and the Mayor’s Office said they had increased bilingual staff and career coaching in schools.

Baltimore’s Promise described a newly established youth data hub that will integrate city, school and nonprofit data to measure summer outcomes. The group said its initial integrated report on summer participation and outcomes is planned for fall 2025; committee members asked for timely, actionable data that can inform decisions this year and next.

What the hearing did not produce: no formal council votes or ordinance changes were taken at the session. BCYF announced its investment plans; those are grant-making decisions of that independent fund and not votes of the council. Committee members requested follow-up reports from agencies (for example, a breakdown of Recreation & Parks seats and resident vs. nonresident pricing by district) and set a two‑week expectation for at least one data response.

Voices from the public punctuated the hearing: youth described internships, dual-enrollment courses and placements they say help them prepare for college or careers; parents and small nonprofit leaders implored the council to protect grassroots programs that supply staffing, enrichment and stability for families who otherwise lack affordable options.

Council members closed the hearing by emphasizing partnership and follow-up. Several asked city staff and nonprofit partners to return with the requested transportation, seat and outreach data and to continue efforts to reach neighborhoods with low participation rates, including targeted steps for immigrant communities and school sites with high needs.

Looking ahead: agency leaders said events, outreach teams and the new web portal bemorethissummer.org will be active by Memorial Day to support enrollment and publicity. The council and partners signaled they would continue to seek additional philanthropic and city resources, and to use the youth data hub to measure outcomes year over year.

The hearing record and agency slides remain available from the council’s committee staff for members of the public who want the full data and tables presented at the session.