Baltimore leaders scramble to fill summer youth funding gap as agencies roll out safety, jobs and program plans

Baltimore City officials, nonprofit leaders and parents said Wednesday that the city faces a tangible gap in summer youth programming even as agencies described a coordinated plan of events, outreach and paid employment for young people.

At a joint hearing of the City Council’s Education, Youth & Older Adults and Public Safety committees at Edmondson Westside High School, city staff described a three‑part summer strategy—engagement, outreach and enforcement—while funders and providers urged the council to close remaining funding shortfalls so programs can run at planned scale.

The gap is primarily financial and seats: Baltimore Children & Youth Fund (BCYF) leaders said during the hearing that BCYF is making a $9.5 million emergency investment for summer programming, including $4.9 million for YouthWorks and $2.9 million for the Summer Funding Collaborative. Mayor’s office and employment officials said the city expects to offer 8,500 YouthWorks jobs this summer, down from roughly 9,000 slots offered in 2024. Baltimore City Public Schools told the committee it will provide about 12,000 summer seats this year after offering about 20,000 in 2024.

“‘This summer we will have the opportunity to be one of the smartest cities in the country when it comes to understanding the impact of summer investment,’” said Julia Baez, chief executive officer of Baltimore’s Promise, referring to a new youth data hub the nonprofit helped develop. Baez and others urged the council to treat the shortfall as an urgent problem that will fall hardest on historically underserved neighborhoods and older teens who rely on YouthWorks for income.

Why it matters: summer programming provides work, enrichment, meals and safe supervised time for thousands of Baltimore children and teens. Providers testified that cuts would force shorter programs, fewer field trips and reduced weeks of instruction; Child First Authority’s executive director Ajayda Hall said a recent funding reduction could cut her organization’s five‑week program to four weeks and eliminate several weekly field trips, calling that loss “far reaching.”

What the city plans: the mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement, Recreation & Parks, the mayor’s Office of Employment Development and partners described an integrated schedule of free public events, late‑night recreation at nine centers, “Rec on the Run” mobile activities, block‑party style “Rock the Block” activations and targeted outreach teams operating weekend evenings. Assistant Deputy Mayor Noelle Lou Gay and Director Stephanie Mavronis said teams will log field encounters and make referrals to services; Mavronis said the strategy aims to “meet youth where they are” and increase proactive engagement compared with prior years.

“‘Our goal is to ensure that we keep our young people safe, connected, and engaged,’” said Tyler Schneller, deputy director for government relations in the mayor’s office, describing the administration’s public message for the summer.

Youth employment: the mayor’s Office of Employment Development (MOED) said YouthWorks will again be a central piece of the strategy. Director Matt Garvin told the council that YouthWorks will pay $15 an hour for up to 25 hours per week and that the city received about 13,000 applications this year; based on available funding the program will employ approximately 8,500 youth. Garvin said about 8,250 participants completed the five‑week session in 2024.

Provider and parent concerns: multiple nonprofit leaders and parents said funding instability has practical effects on families and programs. Dorothy Flintall, who described herself as an investment coordinator at Child First, testified that “Child First is more than a program. It's a pathway and support system and a lifeline,” and asked the council to restore summer funding so programs can keep operating. Elevate Baltimore’s executive director Alexandria Warwick Adams and other nonprofit leaders said federal grant terminations and shrinking grants have forced nonprofits to “do more with less.”

Equity and access issues: council members and witnesses pressed agencies on how the city will reach multilingual households and districts with low YouthWorks participation. Councilman Paris Gray and others raised stark district‑level participation differences and asked for intensified outreach to increase applications from those neighborhoods. Garvin said MOED has career coaches in middle and high schools and has translated materials and added bilingual staff where possible, and BCYF and the Summer Funding Collaborative said they run Spanish‑language review and outreach processes.

Transportation and documentation barriers also surfaced. MOED said it provides MTA passes and reported more than 8,000 youth accepted transit passes last year; several worksite managers and community speakers warned that lack of school records, birth certificates or other paperwork prevents some young people—particularly immigrants or youth who lack stable records—from being hired or placed.

Data and evaluation: Baltimore’s Promise and the youth data hub team said they plan to produce an integrated report on summer outcomes in the fall that will use individual‑level data from multiple city systems to track attendance, duplication of seats across agencies, credit recovery, and longer‑term outcomes such as grades and graduation. That effort, the organizations said, aims to make future planning less crisis‑driven.

What the council asked for: members requested follow‑up information on final seat counts, district breakdowns of YouthWorks participation, Recreation & Parks resident versus nonresident seat counts and the legal basis for BCYF’s emergency funding transfer. Several council members asked agencies to provide materials and event graphics in time for local dissemination and to return to the council with concrete plans to expand outreach in underrepresented districts.

No formal vote or ordinance was taken at the hearing; council chairs said the session was fact‑finding and asked agencies for follow‑up reports and data to inform funding and policy decisions.

Ending note: parents, youth and nonprofit leaders told the council they want the current commitments converted into stable, predictable, year‑round funding rather than annual emergency fixes. “Close the gap this summer, then build the system our kids deserve,” said Ellie Mitchell, director of the Maryland Out‑of‑School Time Network.