Baltimore Summer Funding Collaborative Announces 2026 Grantees

This sum­mer, 54 youth-serv­ing orga­ni­za­tions will ben­e­fit from near­ly $7 mil­lion in grant fund­ing from the Bal­ti­more Sum­mer Fund­ing Col­lab­o­ra­tive (SFC). Thanks to a thriv­ing part­ner net­work that includes the Annie E. Casey Foun­da­tion, the col­lab­o­ra­tive is cel­e­brat­ing a land­mark year. It has added 17 fun­ders, increased pri­vate invest­ment by almost $3.5 mil­lion and will serve 8,500 youth and young adults this year. 

“What the Sum­mer Fund­ing Col­lab­o­ra­tive has accom­plished so far this year has been noth­ing short of incred­i­ble,” said Adri­an McLemore, Annie E. Casey Foun­da­tion pro­gram asso­ciate. ​“It is a tes­ta­ment to how pub­lic-pri­vate part­ner­ships in Bal­ti­more can tru­ly make a dif­fer­ence in the lives of not just young peo­ple, but the grass­roots orga­ni­za­tions that sup­port them as well.”

View a full list of fun­ders and grantees

The collaborative’s net­work of new and return­ing grantees includes:

Bal­let After Dark

Bal­let After Dark (BAD) is a trau­ma-informed non­prof­it that serves young women of col­or who have been impact­ed by trau­ma and sex­u­al vio­lence. Its pro­gram­ming sup­ports men­stru­al equi­ty and youth empow­er­ment as well as heal­ing through edu­ca­tion, work­force devel­op­ment and the arts.

This sum­mer, BAD is set to host a two-week immer­sive camp designed for girls and teens, ages 5–17, that includes field trips and hands-on expe­ri­ence to help build both skills and new friendships.

“We’re enter­ing our fourth year of part­ner­ship with the Sum­mer Fund­ing Col­lab­o­ra­tive and are thrilled to con­tin­ue this rela­tion­ship,” said Tyde-Cout­ney Edwards, Bal­let After Dark found­ing direc­tor and CEO. ​“SFC has been a piv­otal part of BAD pro­vid­ing high-qual­i­ty sum­mer experiences.”

Roberta’s House

Roberta’s House offers free com­pre­hen­sive sup­port and coun­sel­ing ser­vices to school-age chil­dren, young adults and their fam­i­lies who have expe­ri­enced the death of a loved one. 

The orga­ni­za­tion also sup­ports Camp PHOENIX, a sum­mer learn­ing pro­gram for high school­ers who have expe­ri­enced loss and are nav­i­gat­ing the griev­ing process. Dur­ing the week­long pro­gram, campers learn strate­gies for emo­tion­al resilience and heal­ing in a nur­tur­ing envi­ron­ment. ​“Last year, we had 38 par­tic­i­pants and a 99% com­ple­tion rate,” said Rox­anne Fuentes, direc­tor of youth pro­grams at Roberta’s House. ​“The par­tic­i­pants loved the com­bi­na­tion of group activ­i­ties, edu­ca­tion, phys­i­cal well­ness and outings.”

In 2026, Roberta’s House plans to recruit two new junior camp coun­selors from its Peer Ambas­sadors pro­gram, which sup­ports peer-to-peer men­tor­ing among students.

Own Your Ase

Own Your Ase (OYA) uses men­tor­ship and lead­er­ship train­ing to help young women fos­ter con­fi­dence, strength and suc­cess in their dai­ly lives. Its pro­grams and ini­tia­tives focus on edu­ca­tion, eco­nom­ic secu­ri­ty, phys­i­cal health and spir­i­tu­al wellness.

“The Sum­mer Fund­ing Col­lab­o­ra­tive has been a pow­er­ful part­ner in help­ing Own Your Ase expand access to trans­for­ma­tive sum­mer expe­ri­ences for Baltimore’s girls,” said LaShone ​“Mama Ngi­na” Croom, OYA’s founder and chief ele­va­tion offi­cer. ​“This invest­ment allows us to com­bine cul­tur­al­ly ground­ed men­tor­ship with hands-on STEM learn­ing, ensur­ing our young peo­ple build both tech­ni­cal skills and the con­fi­dence to see them­selves as inno­va­tors and leaders.”

This sum­mer, OYA’s Kween Code STEM for Girls pro­gram will include immer­sive STEM labs, oppor­tu­ni­ties to meet women in tech and engi­neer­ing, dig­i­tal lit­er­a­cy train­ing and struc­tured col­lege and career readi­ness expe­ri­ences. ​“We are also inten­tion­al­ly inte­grat­ing social-emo­tion­al well­ness and lead­er­ship devel­op­ment so that our par­tic­i­pants leave not only with new skills, but with an expand­ed vision for their futures,” said Croom.

Learn more about SFC’s admin­is­tra­tive part­ner: Baltimore’s Promise