Cody Young Empowerment Youth Charities aims to empower young Baltimoreans

BALTIMORE -- A local organization is focused on empowering and mentoring Baltimore youth to prevent gun violence in the city.

Cody Young Empowerment Youth Charities was started by native Baltimorean Donyelle Brown.

She created it in 2018 after her son, Louis Cody-Dorsey Young, was shot and killed.

"It was put on my heart to start something for young men—a safe space giving them an opportunity to even serve their community and say what they thought would be the best way to deal with the gun violence that is plaguing our community," Brown told WJZ's Torrey Smith.

Brown started off with a location at the Centers for Urban Families and then expanded to Carver Vocational High School. Now, she's operating out of the Langston Hughes Community Resource Center, too.

"We do affirmations when they come in," she said of the boys who participate in the program," she said. "They have to speak about who they are before they even sit down to eat. We eat as a community. We don't just grab food. We eat altogether. So, I'm showing them the value of family and I'm showing them the value in believing in themselves."

One of the organization's young participants recently received a full ride to Saint Mary's University, Brown said. 

"It's just amazing how they take the resources and they want to do better," she said.