Baltimore summer program helps youth find healing through jewelry making

Baltimore youth are learning about emotional skills and entrepreneur tips through a jewelry-making youth summer program.

Beadly Speaking is a nonprofit that empowers young people through handmade jewelry.

"The blessing is that what I've created is something that I wanted as a kid," said Dyon Davidson, the organization's founder.

The program is funded through the Baltimore Children & Youth Fund. 

The four-week summer program is based inside the Baltimore Unity Hall. Students are making necklaces, earrings, bracelets, even crowns using materials like wood and wires.

"I'm painting earrings, and my theme is yellow and pink because they're my favorite colors," participant Maci Epps said.

"I didn't know what my purpose was until tragedy hit our family"

Davidson developed the organization after her mother had a brain aneurysm in 2004. To help her mother with home therapy, Davidson taught herself how to make jewelry and shared the practice with her mom.

"It became a thing where we sat and did that every weekend," she said. "My mom recovered, and I just kept making jewelry."

With a teaching background, she turned this therapeutic time with her mother into a community program for young people.

Davidson has studied how colors affect human emotions, incorporating brighter hues into art sessions.

"The kids are so excited. It lifts their mood, and it shifts the energy in the room," she said.

Davidson said that using wires to make pieces can provide a sense of relief.

"It calms them down. It helps them to concentrate, focus, and you see a lot of *exhales,*" she said.

Building a business

Students are also gaining workforce readiness skills.

"At the end of our program, they get a marketplace," Davidson said. "They're learning how to price their items, how to sell, how to interact with customers. They're learning confidence building."

Davidson said they've created their own business name and designed their own logo.

She adds one of her students has taken lessons learned here and has soared.

"One of our kids now has an LLC," Davidson said. "She goes out and sells every almost weekend and makes no less than $300."

On August 1, the program will host its 2026 Youth Vendor Marketplace, selling what they've made over the last four weeks to customers.  During the 2025 Youth Vendor Marketplace, youth collectively achieved about $800 in sales contributing to over $4,000 in youth earnings since 2022.