Baltimore Launches First Youth Master Plan at Community Gathering

The Baltimore Children & Youth Fund celebrated the launch of the city's first Youth Master Plan during The Gathering 2025: Roots & Reach event on November 17, bringing together over 350 community members, youth leaders, and grassroots organizers at the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront. This development represents a fundamental reorientation of how Baltimore approaches youth development, placing young people at the center of decision-making processes that will shape the city's future.

The Youth Master Plan serves as a comprehensive, youth-driven roadmap designed to elevate youth voice, strengthen grassroots leadership, and align citywide resources around priorities defined by young people themselves. Developed through months of collaboration, listening sessions, and community engagement, the plan reflects a shared commitment to building equitable systems of opportunity across Baltimore. It will guide investments and policy alignment over coming years, ensuring youth perspectives directly influence municipal planning and resource distribution.

"To see hundreds of young people, elders, organizers, and partners all in one room learning, celebrating, and building together was powerful," said Alysia Lee, President and CEO of BCYF. "The Youth Master Plan is our promise that young people's voices will guide Baltimore's future. The Gathering 2025 was just the beginning." This statement underscores the transformative potential of the initiative, which moves beyond traditional youth programming to establish youth as legitimate stakeholders in city governance.

The event featured 27 interactive sessions led by youth, grassroots leaders, and practitioners, covering themes including health and wellness, storytelling, harm reduction, and youth rights. Notably, nearly half of all sessions were led or co-led by young people under age 24, demonstrating BCYF's commitment to elevating youth leadership in every facet of community-building. Workshops addressed practical skills like grant management alongside creative self-care and youth-centered program design, while showcases from organizations including The Marching Elite, Coach G Academy, and the Baltimore American Indian Center highlighted existing community assets.

The convening's theme—"Roots & Reach: Citywide Change From the Ground Up"—captured BCYF's philosophy that lasting transformation must begin with those closest to both challenges and solutions. This approach represents a significant departure from top-down policymaking, instead building systems that recognize community expertise and youth insight as essential components of effective urban planning. Participants left with new connections, shared strategies, and collective commitments to advance this youth-centered vision.

This initiative matters because it institutionalizes youth participation in municipal decision-making at an unprecedented scale. By creating formal mechanisms for youth input to guide investments and policies, Baltimore is establishing a model for intergenerational governance that could influence approaches to youth development nationwide. The plan's implementation will test whether sustained youth engagement can produce more responsive, equitable systems that better address the actual needs of young Baltimore residents. For more information about BCYF's work, visit http://www.bcyfund.org.