Baltimore Mayor Scott unveils Summer Youth Engagement Strategy
Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott unveiled his Summer Youth Engagement Strategy Wednesday afternoon.
Similar to the city's plan for spring break, the purpose of the plan is to deter violence in the city.
Ahead of spring break, the city deployed youth engagement teams to establish a presence in high-traffic areas where young people are likely to gather.
Baltimore's Summer Youth Engagement Strategy was launched for the first time in 2023. Since then, the city has seen significant drops in violent crime.
"Last year, thousands of young people across Baltimore took advantage of programming and summer employment. Our youth engagement staff had more than 500 positive ground-level interactions with young people," Scott said. "And for those who don't know what that means, that's young people who are out late night in spaces that we know young people congregate and shouldn't be."
The initiative involves a curfew for city youth, along with specialized youth programming.
You can find out more about the programs here.
Baltimore youth engagement strategy and crime reduction
The Youth Engagement Strategy is focused on reducing crime by offering activities for young people during spring and summer breaks.
Scott said that after implementing the strategy last summer, the number of shooting victims decreased by 66%, and the number of aggravated assault victims dropped by 31%.
The mayor also said the city will have 42 summer camp sites this year through recreation and parks.
The city's Rock the Block parties, midnight basketball, and parties at Druid Hill Pool will return.
Hours at nine of the city's recreation centers throughout the city will be extended until 11 p.m. every Friday and Saturday from June 20 until Aug. 16.
Those locations are the Middle Branch, Rita Church, Greenmount Edgewood, Lynnhurst, Lakeland, CC Jackson, Cahill, Robert C. Marshall and Madison recreation center locations.
This year, the city will also have 12,000 seats across 10 district summer school programs, in addition to 29 literacy-focused programs for students from Pre-K through 12th grade.
The city has also partnered with B-360, an organization that leverages dirt bike culture to encourage STEM education, whose downtown location will function as a youth center offering learning and tutoring services.
The B360 headquarters on East Pratt Street will serve as a Youth Connection Center, where youth can connect with staff and resources as they await pickup by their guardians, the mayor explained.
"We're not just criminalizing our young people for simply being outside and being Black. We're limiting unnecessary youth interactions with law enforcement," Scott said.
