I went looking for Baltimore in Waverly, and I saw a house that had been abandoned. That was brown with tall grass, shattered steps, no walls, no ceilings and no sass. I went looking for Baltimore in the YD Youth Center, and I found creativity. Once I got there, I felt free and I was surprised by all the kids who welcomed me. . . - Jessica White and Miriam Harris.

Click here to flip through the book

by the Youth Dreamers “Oh the Places You’ll Go” Summer Arts Program, 2010

BALTIMORE—The Youth Dreamers “Oh the Places You’ll Go” Summer Program took place from June 28th to July 28th, 2010, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm at the Dream House. We had 14 students from grades 5 – 9.

This year, we based the morning on creating the book you find here: Baltimore, I Love You!  We were taught different skills such as poetry writing, interviewing, journalism, and fundraising by peer high school students. Each of us wrote an identity poem and poetry about Baltimore, in addition to working in teams to interview people from the community and writing their narratives.

Our book gives readers an inside view of the city we live in, along with some facts about us.

In the afternoon, we worked with Maryland Institute College of Art graduate students and three high school interns to do community art. We sewed three reusable bags out of donated tee shirts—one to sell, one for ourselves, and another for the community. We also created sketchbooks, journals, and t-shirts. We painted window screens for the Dream House as well as for the Shepherd’s Clinic, the free health clinic next door.

Every Friday was considered Ice Cream Friday, a chance to savor the work we had accomplished that week on our book and our community art projects. We ended each Friday eating ice cream cones, sucking on popsicles, or biting into ice cream sandwiches.

A little bit about The Youth Dreamers

The Youth Dreamers is a youth-run 501(c)3, non-profit organization whose goal is to decrease the amount of violence among youth in Baltimore City. The organization was founded by nine students in an elective course at the Stadium School in 2001. These students had witnessed violent acts among youth after school, so they decided to create a youth-run youth center where teenagers could be employed to mentor and teach younger children and where programs could exist for the whole community.

The students formed their own nonprofit organization with a board of youth and purchased an old, vacant house from a church in the neighborhood. They presented their plans to the Board of Municipal and Zoning Appeals and worked with a pro-bono architect and a pro-bono general contractor to design and construct the house. In 2010, the Dream House had its Grand Opening!

Thirty middle school students in the Youth Dreamer’s Project Class at the Stadium School manage the nonprofit—writing grants, organizing fundraisers, planning afterschool programs, organizing community events, and more. Additional middle school students are employed to work in various afterschool programs—such as Homework Club, Health Club, and Community Art—and high school students are employed to supervise these programs, as well as run our annual five-week summer program.

Students have raised over $800,000 towards construction and programming costs, and mobilized a community to support them. Youth Dreamers have partnerships with the University of Maryland School of Law, Stevenson University, Maryland Institute College of Art, the Shepherd’s Clinic, and others.

Even though the Dream House has come true, the Youth Dreamers find it hard to keep it alive. They have to pay bills they’ve never paid before and they need additional funding to provide more programs.

More determined than ever, they—we— continue to work hard to keep the dream alive.

Flip through Baltimore, I Love You!: A Collection of Poems and Pictures by The Youth Dreamers

Download a low resolution PDF of the book.