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For Manami Brown, what matters is that young people and the adults in their lives understand themselves as not just recipients of services but as resources. "The Teen Corps is not just about youth and for youth," she says. "We emphasize the partnership between the youth we work with and the communities in which they live."
Working in partnership with the Fellowship of Light and the Safe and Sound Campaign, Brown created the Baltimore City Teen Corps as part of her work for the Maryland Cooperative Extension Baltimore City 4H Youth Development where she is an extension educator.
Brown's long resume of working on behalf of and with young people began with a bachelor's degree in social work and a master's degree in education, followed by jobs in the Baltimore area working with young people developing team-building and leadership skills. But the road that leads to the Baltimore City Teen Corps really began with the man she considers her role model. "My father was a youth development organizer in New York City and we learned community organizing early on. He passed it down-it's part of my family values." In fact, Brown has passed down the value of community involvement and participation to her two daughters.
She hasn't stopped with simply passing on those values to her daughters though. Her work with the Baltimore City Teen Corps provides her with the chance to educate and organize many young people who otherwise may not have ever heard the words, "community organizing," let alone participated in it. The program is a fairly new one, having been created in 1998 and Brown is seeing a change in awareness in the young people who participate. "It's a change in attitude. For example, we're working with a group of young people in a community called Upton, which is a fairly rough part of the city. Most of them didn't even know that was the name of the neighborhood but now they're doing a community mapping project and finding out all about the community's rich history. It's wonderful to hear the excitement in their voices as they plan things."
That participation in the planning and not just the doing is a key part of the Teen Corps. "The young people partner with the community to create change. They are involved from the beginning in designing the collaboration and then work on implementing and carrying it out." A core element in the program is a monthly meeting that brings the various youth groups together in one location. One young person is in charge of the meeting and facilitates a discussion on topics that range from conflict resolution and anger management to preparing for college.
Each of the 12 Teen Corps sites in Baltimore also works on projects of its own and participates in city-wide projects. Brown explains that there are three core concepts she and the other educators in the program are working to instill: leadership development, service learning, and entrepreneurship. "We have one group that has created community gardens. Some of the produce that they harvest goes to homeless shelters while some of it is sold at a farmer's market. The young people pair up to take and sell the produce at the market." A project like that, Brown points out, allows the young people to develop skills that include leadership at the same time they are producing something for the community and creating a means of making money as well.
The Teen Corps recently organized a citywide project with 4H roots, says Brown. They created a Youth Expo, which was held in mid-May in front of city hall. Wonder at the complexity of the project mingles with delight as Brown describes the expo. "We modeled it on the 4H fairs that are traditionally held but a fair just didn't seem like the right thing for an urban area." The Expo combined some traditional fair elements-like competitions in photography, baking, science, sewing, and entrepreneurship-with nontraditional and noncompetitive exhibitions-theater arts, dance, athletics, and fashion. "And we even managed to include some animals," Brown laughs. "We had a petting zoo."
Brown is keen to let people know that the program is putting down roots. "When we started this program, the Kellogg Foundation gave us $20,000 in start-up funding, which we used over two years. The program didn't go away after the funding was gone. It's still here and going strong." The Teen Corps' strength and viability owe much to Brown's clear enthusiasm and dedication but it's also a testament to the young people in the program who are contributing to their communities at the same time they learn how to take care of themselves and create meaningful lives.
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