Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott Wednesday highlighting the outcomes of the Mayor’s Office’s Bmore this Summer: Outside in ’25 summer youth engagement strategy.
Much like the previous two summers, this past summer’s approach was focused on providing productive and positive engagement opportunities for charm city’s young people, according to the Mayor’s Office.
This included events, opportunities and resources that allow young people to enjoy themselves in a safe environment outside of school hours.
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These programming opportunities took place in areas where the city’s young people usually gather on Friday and Saturday nights as well as Sunday nights on holiday weekends, from early April through this past weekend, September 19-21.
“Supporting our young people and encouraging safe behavior is an important part of our work to improve public safety outcomes for all Baltimoreans,” Mayor Scott said, via a press release. “This was truly a team effort, and I want to thank all of the partners and community members who gave their time and energy to make this strategy a success.”
Safety Engagement
Deemphasizing the role of law enforcement in the city’s curfew engagement, Scott mobilized the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement (MONSE), Mayor’s Office of African American Male Engagement (MOAAME) and community partners For My Kidz, Redesigning Minds and the PEACE Team to lead proactive, ground-level engagement with young people in high foot-traffic areas.
The Mayor’s Office said staff emphasized relationship building with young adults, de-escalated conflicts and prevented political violence as well as offered connections to wraparound services as needed.
Staff were also able to coordinate with the Baltimore Police Department and Baltimore City Schools Police to ensure accountability when young people engaged in dangerous behaviors.
Ground-level safety engagement in 2025 almost doubled the number of weekends partners were activated compared to last year.
Thanks to a partnership with , Baltimore and outreach workers were able to use B-360’s downtown location as a Youth Connection Center to bring together and reconnect young people in need of more support.
From the second weekend in April through last weekend, youth engagement staff documented more than 977 positive interactions with young people in the areas they were deployed, according to the Mayor’s Office.
Staff noted 113 requests for services, including connection to critical resources, employment, housing assistance and reconnection with their school communities.
Year-to-date data:
Youth homicide victimizations are down 83.3% (two in 2025 compared to 12 in 2024)
Aggravated assault victimizations are down 20.3% (274 in 2025 compared to 344 in 2024)
Robbery victimizations are down 30.9% (192 in 2025 compared to 278 in 2024)
Youth shooting victimizations are up 17.4% (27 in 2025 compared to 23 in 2024), but are still down 63.5% from the 74 young people who were non-fatally shot in 2023
BPD has made 629 juvenile arrests so far in 2025 (down from 636 made during the same time period in 2024)
Programming Opportunities
The Mayor’s Office and Baltimore City Department of Recreation and Parks (BCRP) teamed up to deliver a comprehensive set of summer programming opportunities designed for young people to enjoy.
Thousands of people took advantage of these offerings including:
1,400 participants at the Mayor’s Office Spring Break TeenFest
1,313 young people attended at least one of three Splash Fest teen pool parties
8,604 YouthWorks job offers across 697 participating employers
3,204 young people who attended a BCRP summer camp at one of 43 locations
Over 2,138 backpacks and 800 hygiene kits distributed. 4,237 meals provided to young people and their families at the Mayor’s Back to School Event
1,792 attendees across six Rock the Block community block parties hosted by the Mayor’s Office of Community Affairs’ (MOCA)
223 young people participated in Midnight Basketball on Friday and Saturday evenings at the Dome in East Baltimore
About 6,900 teens and young adults (ages 13-20) participated in Late Night Weekend Hype programming at one of the nine recreation centers listed below
The following recreation centers operated under extended hours until 11 p.m. every Friday and Saturday night from June 20-Aaugust 16, featuring programming tailored to teens and young adults ages 13-20:
Cahill, 4001 Clifton Ave, Baltimore, MD 21216
CC Jackson, 4910 Park Heights Ave, Baltimore, MD 21216
Edgewood/Lyndhurst, 835 Allendale St, Baltimore, MD 21229
Greenmount, 2304 Greenmount Ave, Baltimore, MD 21218
Lakeland, 2921 Stranden Rd, Baltimore, MD 21230
Madison, 1401 E Biddle St, Baltimore, MD 21225
Middle Branch, 201 Reedbird Ave, Baltimore, MD 21225
Rita Church, 2101 St Lo Dr, Baltimore, MD 21213
Robert C Marshall, 1201 Pennsylvania Ave, Baltimore, MD 21217
In addition, Baltimore City Public Schools offered 17,639 slots across 150 summer learning programs: