It’s hard for me to begin to explain how much the Youth Dreamers has positively influenced my life personally, academically, and socially. By being in the Project Class at the Stadium School, I was surrounded by students who were dedicated to making social change. During my whole journey with the Youth Dreamers, I learned information that I wouldn’t have learned in a regular classroom. I learned how to balance a checkbook, how to write a grant, how to start a non-profit organization, and how to renovate a house into the Dream House, our youth-run youth center in Baltimore. Being a Youth Dreamer allowed me to realize what was important in our neighborhoods and schools.
–Chekana Reid, middle school founder of the organization, currently a Social Worker
Dear Fellow Dreamers,
It is with sadness and pride that we share that we are formally dissolving the Youth Dreamers, Inc. As many of you know, in February of 2020, we sold The Dream House to KEYS Empowerment https://keysempowers.org/, an organization that will carry on our dream by providing a sustainable safe haven and programs for young people. We spent many months and met many potential buyers before we finally decided that KEYS was the most closely connected to our mission and would be the best fit for our community…
Supporting youth-voice and youth-leadership in education and community through the creation of Baltimore’s only youth-run youth center.
From 2001 to 2012, the Youth Dreamers were a vibrant part of the east Baltimore Community. As middle schoolers, we wrote countless grants and organized hundreds of fundraisers, raising over $900,000 that went towards purchasing and renovating the Dream House-Baltimore’s only youth-run youth center. In the Dream House, young people designed and implemented programs that employed teens and served younger children. Ultimately, we served over 618 youth and employed 251, helping high school and middle school students earn 17,578 community service hours towards graduation. All of this plus engagement with our community and the love and support of many volunteers led to COUNTLESS success stories of youth and adult involvement. To learn more, visit our HISTORY page.