The Problem

Baltimore youth employment rates are much lower for 16-24 year olds living in our City than in any of the surrounding counties. In much of the City, we have seen Youth Unemployment as high as 50%. If we are serious about reducing crime in our City, we must get serious about getting young people employed.

In 2017, approximately 13,000 young people in Baltimore City applied for the Mayor’s Office of Employment Development’s YouthWorks program. Of those applicants, we were only able to find jobs for about 8,000 young people. In 2018, almost 16,500 young men and women applied for YouthWorks, but we were only able to place about 8,600.

Young people want to work. We belong in a City that doesn’t fail to provide opportunities for the youth of Baltimore.

What We Can Do

Sponsoring a YouthWorks applicant costs about $1,500 for a whole summer. Even at this very manageable price, we consistently fall short of employing a huge portion of applicants.

While campaign committees cannot contribute money to sponsor YouthWorks applicants, we are making a commitment to giving young people meaningful work on our campaign by cutting costs elsewhere.

Did you know that a 5-6 piece, district-wide mail campaign could cost $50,000 or more? Dave is not sending district-wide mail. You’ll get one or two postcards from us reminding you about Early Voting and Election Day. You might get an additional piece or two if you’re in an apartment building or if you’re a returned citizen who needs help with legal services.

Because of the money we’ll be saving, we’re hiring young people to work on our campaign this summer. We’ll be starting with one or two, but if we meet our fundraising goals between now and the end of the summer, we’ll increase that accordingly. Dave believes in Baltimore, and our campaign reflects an investment in “walking the walk;” because if we’re serious about getting young people to work, we need to lead by example.

If you’re a Baltimore City resident between the ages of 16-20 or if you’re a returned citizen looking for part time work this summer, click here to apply for one of our paid campaign positions (coming soon!). You’ll gain valuable skills and learn about the inner workings of political campaigns, and work alongside policy specialists, and community organizers! don’t need to live in the 12th District (though District residents will be given preference).