The Stadium School Youth Dreamers are a group of students in grades six through college who decided in 2001 that they wanted to open a youth-run youth center .

Our mission, written by youth and adults in 2003 is "to provide a safe & stimulating youth center for the growth & development of young people through youth empowerment." Adults & young people will work together in leadership on the Board of Directors to facilitate this youth initiated project & its goals."

We are part of the Stadium School , a Baltimore City Public School that serves about 280 students in grades six through eight in the communities surrounding Memorial Stadium, including the targeted communities of Waverly and Coldstream-Homestead-Montebello (CHM).

We started in 2001 as an elective course of nine students. We talked about issues in our community and what we wanted to change. Our solution to youth not having anywhere to go after school to engage in positive activities was to create a youth-run youth center. Once we decided to do this, we got the University of Maryland School of Law to help us become a non-profit with a board of eight youth and eight adults, purchased a vacant house (1430 Carswell St), successfully presented at the Board of Municipal and Zoning Appeals to change the zoning of the house, held numerous service days to move us through renovations, and raised over $600,000 for construction and programming. We are now under construction with a finish date of April 2009.

We have grown from nine students to over fifty students and adult allies. We are not just an elective course, but are a full day "Project Class" at the Stadium School on Wednesdays from 9:00 to 3:00 . SEE OUR CLASS SYLLABUS HERE!

Our Board of Directors of eight youth and eight adults continue to guide us.

Students do pretty much everything with guidance and support from adults. We write grants, run fundraisers, design programs, run programs, evaluate programs, plan agendas for our monthly trips to My Sister's Place, plan and participate in our annual gala/auction, volunteer at the Shepherd's Clinic-a free health clinic located behind our future youth center, and work with our pro bono architect and general contractor to design the house and move through the phases of construction. Each month we report to our Board of Directors to get their advice and input. (Regene White, 7 th grade Youth Dreamer)

While we await the completion of renovations, we run programs at the Stadium School like Homework Club, Art Class, and a Summer Art Program in partnership with Maryland Institute College of Art. All of these programs are designed, run and evaluated by youth. These classes and more will run out of our youth center once it is renovated.

One of our after school programs Homework Club allows us to offer jobs to middle school students, giving them the opportunity to be positive mentors and role models to younger children. Our employees must complete an application and attend an interview. Once a part of the program, they participate in staff meetings after each session to reflect on the day and improve the program, and they evaluate themselves monthly prior to being paid. We have younger children evaluate each day at Homework Club, and we have them complete more extensive evaluations at the end of the year. All of this data is used to improve the program. Homework Club makes it possible for us to build relationships with younger children that last over several years, as these children return to Homework Club, eventually attend our school, and recognize us in the community. These younger children often need the perspective and support of another youth rather than an adult.

Our Art Class provides us with an opportunity to teach our peers art skills. We have participants evaluate the program at the end of each six weeks. Our summer program, in partnership with MICA, gives us the opportunity to hire two high school interns to work alongside graduate students to teach community art. Each summer, we are able to identify ways to beautify the community and build relationships through art. For two years, we have offered wrap-around programming to provide for a full day of activities for our participants. We have been successfully operating these programs for four years, making adjustments each year to better serve the children in our community.

There are many benefits to these programs for those who are involved. In Homework Club, elementary aged students get help with their homework from another young person, not a teacher. Relationships are built between the children and the teens. The middle school employees learn valuable leadership skills as they tutor, teach, problem solve, and provide enriching activities for children when their homework is done. In Art Class, participants learn art skills from their peers and get to share their artwork with others. Youth Dreamer employees design, run and evaluate the program, learning important skills in the process. Finally, the Summer Art Program gives the participants the opportunity to learn art through hands-on activities, to learn more about Maryland Institute College of Art, to have something positive to do over the summer, and to create art that beautifies and bonds the community. All of these programs help change the often negative perspective of youth in our city because youth are in leadership positions making positive change. (Kendra Wiggins and Diamond Taylor, 8 th grade Youth Dreamers)

Our partnerships with the University of Maryland School of Law, Villa Julie College, Maryland Institute College of Art, Penza + Bailey Architects, Struever Bros. Eccles and Rouse, the Homestead United Methodist Church , the Shepherd's Clinic, My Sister's Place, the Stadium School and Abbottston Elementary School put us in a strong position to keep our mission and programs alive. In addition, we have learned from other youth organizations such as Kids on the Hill, the Algebra Project, and Follow Your Dreams.

Some of our achievements include:

Articles and Publications

• An article in Baltimore Magazine
• An article published in The Voice, a magazine of the National Writing Project
• Two articles in The Baltimore Sun twice-once when we collected oral histories from residents on Carswell St. and once when we had our first Demolition Day
• Features in The Examiner and The Baltimore Times
• Publication in Groupworks (a British journal)
• Writing a chapter in the book Writing For a Change: Boosting Literacy and Learning Through Social Action (Jossey-Bass, 2006)

Making Presentations and Appearances

• Appearances on Headline News and WBAL
• Presentations to spread the word and get community support and funding, such as Towson University, Stevenson University (Villa Julie College), National Night Out, and the Baltimore City Council Showcase.

Writing Grants and Receiving Awards

• Angel Soft Angels in the Classroom Award, presented by Jane Kaczmarek from the show Malcolm in the Middle , who was so impressed with us that she has personally donated $20,000 to our organization since we won the award
• A proclamation by Mayor Martin O'Malley nameing May 13, 2003 "Youth Dreamer Day" in Baltimore City.
• A Resolution from City Council in recognition of our "accomplishments in ensuring the establishment of a Community Youth Center " on August 11, 2003 .
• Many grants including $75,000 from the Department of Housing and Community Development, $70,000 from Senator Barbara Mikulski, $50,000 from the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, and more
• The State Farm Youth Leadership for Service-Learning Excellence Award and traveling to Albuquerque , New Mexico to accept it
• Fundraisers to hold a FunFest block party each year on Global Youth Service Day
  

Making Friends and Building Partnerships

• Laura Penza of Penza + Bailey Architects, to help us design the center bro bono
• Andy Powell of Towson University to act as our pro bono general contractor, teaching us each phase of construction and helping us hire subcontractors
• Kate McShane-Oeming of Struever Bros. Eccles and Rouse who has included us in two of their service days
• Shepherd's Clinic where we volunteer and hope to work with patients in the future
• Developing partnerships with local colleges such as Stevenson University, Maryland Institute College of Art, and University of Maryland 's Free Law Clinic

Feeling Pride!

• In our executive director, who earned an Open Society Institute Fellowship in order to continue our work
• In Youth Dreamers currently attend such colleges as University of Maryland College Park, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Towson University, Clark University, Notre Dame, Coppin State College and more!