Baltimore is a rising youth innovation capital. This is the week to see us shine

Jalil Liverman, a New Era Academy student, author and business owner who participated in our organization’s programming, has an idea: “To actually believe in and treat the next generation as the ones you look forward to. Because a lot of people say we are the new generation, we’re the youth, we’re the future, but they don’t act like it.”

Dent Education, the nonprofit I lead, is a part of a growing movement of local organizations, based in equity and youth empowerment, that teach vital 21st-century skills and mindsets through youth job opportunities.

As YouthWorks and many summer programs end this week, we encourage you to see these youth innovators in action!

Check out our list of Baltimore youth innovation inspirations and partners

This includes Dent’s 7th Annual Bet on Baltimore Showcase from 6-8:30 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 10 at Baltimore Center Stage, as well as the  “Open-for-All” Makers Showcase from 1-5 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 12 at Open Works.

As Gov. Wes Moore’s Chief of Staff Fagan Harris once said, Baltimore is the “best place In the world to change the world”.

For similar reasons, we believe Baltimore can become the youth innovation capital of the world. That boils down to three core reasons:

• Creative and entrepreneurial youth
• Invested and willing partners
• Values-aligned government programs

Creative and entrepreneurial youth

To those who hate on Baltimore’s young people, I wonder, “How many authentic conversations have you had?”

Our young people are uniquely creative, inclusive to peers, community-oriented and entrepreneurial. As Liverman says when talking about his Bet on Baltimore teammates: “They like the challenge. They hungry, they like going for more than they have … My peers are thinking, ‘How can I use my skills to my advantage?’”

Oftentimes, what’s missing for our young people is opportunity.

Youth in programs like Dent “make things that maybe they’ve always thought of, but just never had the chance or the direction, or … access [to resources],” said Assi Sy, a former Dent student-turned-staff member and rising sophomore at Bowie State University.

As Charlie Taylor IV, a long-time Denter, member of our Youth Advisory Board and rising freshman at the University of Maryland, College Park said: “Dent is meant to awaken the things you had dormant inside of yourself … That is why it’s called Dent, because you’re using the fire you already had inside of you to make your dent in the world.”

While the terms our partners use might be different, we have aligned end goals: youth activating their inner innovator.

Invested and willing partners

Youth innovation cannot happen without real-world learning.

At Dent, we talk about the “I Can” experience in which youth make something that impacts other people and thus realize their ability to shape the world around them.

The best way to activate real-world learning is by — you guessed it — putting youth into the real world. This is only possible by inviting values-aligned tech entrepreneurs, creatives, nonprofits and industry experts into our youth innovation hub.

Over the years, we’ve had over 300 partners who have spoken to, mentored, hired and hosted our participants.

What makes Baltimore partners unique is that they’re not only committed to young people’s growth. They truly value their skills and mindsets, often demonstrated by paying for youth skills or creations.

Like adult innovators, youth innovators understand, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.”

The relationships our partners form have led to references or jobs from people like Del. Robbyn Lewis and entities like the Annie E. Casey Foundation. When Taylor gets to the University of Maryland, College Park next month, for instance, we will introduce him to campus connector Sammy Popat.

Dent Education participants and staffers by Baltimore Center Stage. (Courtesy photo)

Values-aligned government programs

All of Dent’s programs are “earn-to-learn” internships. Our economic empowerment model started by partnering with YouthWorks, a unique-in-the-country program that offers paid summer jobs to youth aged 14-21.

Dent hosts nearly 100 of the 7,400 YouthWorkers in Baltimore this summer, while other youth innovation organizations host hundreds more.

Other government programs like Gov. Wes Moore’s Service Year and the Maryland Institute College of Art’s Community Arts Collaborative offer unique opportunities for post-high school students to grow as creatives or social innovators.

If our city and state governments continue to invest in bold, new ways to support youth innovation, it will make a serious difference. The Youth Innovation organizations of Baltimore exist, as Sy says, “to get youth to see big, to broaden their minds — letting them know there is a big world out there and to reach for the stars.”

Together, we can grow Baltimore into the Youth Innovation Capital of the World — all with our young people leading the way!

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Full disclosure: Technical.ly’s lead Baltimore reporter Alanah Nichole Davis serves on the board of Dent Education.