Baltimore City to invest in youth athletics, summer jobs to reduce violence
According to the mayor's office, the strategy has helped reduce youth violence over the past two summers. The investments aim to continue the positive trend.
The BCYF will establish a new youth athletics fund with an initial $500,000 investment to expand access to vendor-provided athletic programming in Baltimore City Public Schools (BCPS).
The youth athletics fund will build on BCPS's launch of middle school sports programming, which has allowed thousands of students to access athletics in schools, and will create a path for more philanthropy to invest in middle school athletics.
"We best enrich the lives of Baltimore City students when our community offers more opportunities to learn both inside and outside the classroom," said Dr. Sonja Brookins Santelises, CEO of Baltimore City Public Schools.
BCYF will also allocate $6 million in funds to support
YouthWorks
, the city's summer employment program. The investment will ensure that 8,500 young people find meaningful employment during the summer.
The investment into YouthWorks will provide young people in the city with paid work experiences, professional development and career readiness training through the Mayor's Office of Employment and Development (MOED).
The fund will also invest $1.5 million into Mayor Scott's summer youth engagement strategy, which has helped reduce youth victimization and violence.
The city will use the funding to provide outreach workers, structured programming and safe spaces for young people during the summer.
"This is about investing in our young people holistically - in their futures, their well-being and their safety," Mayor Scott said. "Together, with BCYF, MOED, and Baltimore City Public Schools, we are ensuring that Baltimore's young people have every opportunity to thrive."
Baltimore City saw a major reduction in crime in 2024. It was the third year in a row that the city's violent crime rate dropped, according to data from the
Baltimore City U.S. Attorney's Office.
As of March 3, 2025, homicides and nonfatal shootings were down in the city compared to 2024. Homicides were down 29% and nonfatal shootings were down by 41%,
according to Mayor Scott.
"While we are on the right path and are continuing to approach public safety the right way, understanding that it is more than just the responsibility of law enforcement and we all have a role to play, the work cannot and should not stop here," the mayor said.
"We have a responsibility to expand the strategies and interventions we know are working, continue to be proactive, and deepen our efforts to build a better, safer Baltimore for all," Mayor Scott added.
According to the
CBS News gun violence tracker
, there has been a 20% decrease in the number of gun violence victims over the past five years in Baltimore City, including victims of fatal and non-fatal shootings and any armed encounters.
The tracker, which draws on crime data through the end of December 2024, shows that 389 children and teens faced threats of gun violence in Baltimore City in 2024.
Data shows there were 499 youth victims of gun violence in 2023, and 389 in 2024, a 22% reduction over one year.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
9 hours ago
- Yahoo
Brazen Byker thief stole £10,000 piece of art from Newcastle city centre gallery
A piece of art worth almost £10,000 was stolen by a serial crook who walked into a Newcastle gallery and helped himself to it. Christopher Scott, who has more than 100 offences on his record, took the Mr Brainwash Spray Can piece from it's stand, snapped a security cable, and wandered off with it, a court heard. The brazen theft happened at Clarendon Fine Art gallery, in Newcastle city centre, in February last year. Newcastle Crown Court the artwork was valued at £9,950. Now Scott, who also burgled a house and a building site, has been jailed for more than three years. The court heard that in May last year, he stole power tools worth more than £4,000 from a building site on Collingwood Street, Newcastle. He and an accomplice were captured on CCTV and identified. READ MORE: Whitley Bay incident: Updates on emergency response after child gets into difficulty in the sea READ MORE: Child airlifted to hospital after getting into difficulty in the sea at Whitley Bay He also broke into a woman's house in April, stealing a laptop worth £500, £500 of coins and several bottles of spirits. When he was arrested, he was in possession of cocaine. Scott, 44, of The Chevron, Byker, Newcastle, who has 130 previous convictions, including 58 for theft and similar, pleaded guilty to theft of the piece of art, two burglaries and possessing cocaine. He was jailed for a total of 1,240 days. Jonathan Cousins, defending, said: "He's has a long-standing drug addiction since he was a child and he had a difficult upbringing. "He has PTSD as a result of being stabbed in the late 1990s and his life has been marred by custodial sentences, being released in circumstances where he is homeless and returning to drug addiction and offending. He is extremely remorseful, especially for the burglary offence."
CBS News
a day ago
- CBS News
Demolition for Baltimore's revamped Pimlico Race Course set to begin
Demolition at Baltimore's historic Pimlico Race Course will begin on Thursday, July 24, with the complete redevelopment expected to be finished in time for the 2027 Preakness Stakes. The Maryland Stadium Authority (MSA) says barns and outbuildings will be the first to be torn down. "Through this multi-year transformational project, the Pimlico Race Course will become a year-round racing facility bringing in economic benefits to the surrounding communities and further elevating Maryland, home of the Preakness Stakes, as a premier sports tourism destination," said Craig Thompson, the Chair of the Maryland Stadium Authority. In 2024, the Maryland Stadium Authority authorized $400 million in bonds to reconstruct Pimlico Race Course and build a new training facility at Shamrock Farms in Carroll County. When construction of the track and a portion of the Park Heights neighborhood is complete, Pimlico will be the permanent home of Maryland thoroughbred racing. The facility will be allowed to host more than 100 racing days each year. Aside from making Pimlico a world-class race track, there will be a hotel, event space, and other amenities. The renovated horse track should also support about 500 jobs, according to state leaders. Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott has said the revitalization will be a big boost to the Park Heights neighborhood. "I think the community is excited about the potential and opportunities in the future," Scott said. In May, the MSA shared the concept design for the new Pimlico Race Course during a Board of Public Works meeting. Pimlico Race Course hosted its 150th Preakness Stakes in May, with heavy-favorite Journalism coming from behind down the stretch to defeat a field of eight other horses. It was the final race at the historic track before demolition. In June, the operator and all horses moved out of Pimlico, according to the MSA. The Maryland State Archives removed and secured existing artifacts from the property, and the MSA and its project partners began securing the Pimlico site by installing temporary fencing, performing pest control, preparing utilities, and conducting abatement for the demolition process. During the demolition and construction process, all racing and training will occur at Laurel Park The 151st Preakness Stakes will take place at Laurel Park in 2026. The 152nd Preakness Stakes is expected to return to Pimlico Race Course in 2027.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Why Tencent and Other Chinese Tech Stocks Rallied Today
Key Points Tencent led Chinese stocks higher on Wednesday. The U.S. Treasury secretary said yesterday that trade talks with China will resume next week, with a tariff extension likely beyond the August 12 deadline. An extension would remove a key risk for Chinese stocks and those exposed to China -- for now. 10 stocks we like better than Tencent › Shares of Tencent Holdings (OTC: TCEHY) rallied on Wednesday, up 4% as of 3:48 p.m. There wasn't much company-specific news for the Chinese tech giant; however, positive words from U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent yesterday revived hopes for progress on trade between the U.S. and China. As a result, major Chinese tech stocks rallied today, with Tencent rallying especially strongly. China and U.S. negotiators to meet in Sweden During an interview yesterday, Bessent said, "I'm going to be in Stockholm on Monday and Tuesday with my Chinese counterparts, and we'll be working out what is likely an extension then." For reference, on May 12, the U.S. and China agreed to ratchet back their mutual tariffs on the other, which had escalated to the triple digits following China's retaliation for President Trump's "Liberation Day" tariff announcement on April 2. The lowering of tariffs was agreed on to allow room for trade negotiations to take place, with the three-month deadline approaching on August 12. Along the way, there have been some hiccups in the ongoing talks, such as when President Trump accused China of backtracking on commitments to speed up shipments of crucial rare earths materials. That may have led to some skepticism that a deal would be reached in time. But Bessent's comments yesterday were encouraging. Tencent would benefit from a China recovery Tencent has managed its business extremely well during China's three-year quasirecession, and recently showed an acceleration across its business. With a vast tech empire spanning mobile games, social media, streaming video and music, fintech, and cloud services, it's also in a prime position to benefit from artificial intelligence. So trade talk optimism could be boosting the Chinese economy, and last week's news that Nvidia may restart shipping H20 GPUs to China could also be helping shares along. Investors will learn more on all these fronts when Tencent reports Q2 earnings on August 13. Should you invest $1,000 in Tencent right now? Before you buy stock in Tencent, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Tencent wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $641,800!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $1,023,813!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 1,034% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 180% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of July 21, 2025 Billy Duberstein has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Nvidia and Tencent. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Why Tencent and Other Chinese Tech Stocks Rallied Today was originally published by The Motley Fool Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
