Baltimore youth fund won’t send money to mayor’s office following pushback

BALTIMORE (WBFF) — The Baltimore Children and Youth Fund (BCYF) will not send money to Mayor Brandon Scott’s office this year following a $6 million partnership last summer that sparked backlash from city leaders.

BCYF operates as a nonprofit that relies on Baltimore City taxpayer dollars allocated each year through the General Fund. Scott’s preliminary budget proposed last month revealed BCYF is expected to receive roughly $17 million in the upcoming fiscal year to support local youth programs.

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BCYF sent about $6 million to the Mayor’s Office of Employment Development (MOED) last year to fund YouthWorks summer jobs for local adolescents, as well as funding for the mayor’s “Summer Youth Engagement Strategy.”

However, Scott’s preliminary budget allocates $1.9 million in the General Fund and $5 million in Special Funds for YouthWorks “to maintain 8,500 summer slots for youth and mitigate the potential loss of funding streams from the Children & Youth Fund, American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), and private donations.”

When asked to confirm whether BCYF will fund the mayor’s office in the new fiscal year, a spokesperson for Scott responded: “Not at this time.”

Spotlight on Maryland reported last week on documents obtained in a public information request that revealed BCYF worked behind the scenes with Scott’s office starting in December 2024 to coordinate a partnership, allowing the mayor’s office to dodge the grant application process for local charities hoping to utilize BCYF funds.

Several members of the Baltimore City Council expressed opposition to the $6 million partnership between BCYF and Scott during budget hearings last summer, emphasizing that the fund was intended to support grassroots youth programming rather than supplement City programs.

Councilman Zack Blanchard (District 11) praised the proposal to stop BCYF from funding city-led programs.

“I’m glad to see all of BCYF’s grants this year going to the grassroots organizations that do such critical work with our young people,” he told Spotlight on Maryland. “This is the right precedent for the mayor to set.”

Councilman Mark Conway (District 4) said there’s no line item in the city’s preliminary budget tying BCYF dollars to the mayor’s office, but there’s also nothing that clearly rules it out.

“If the administration is stepping back from using those funds, that’s a positive move,” Conway said. “We need clear guardrails in law to make sure these dollars stay focused on the young people and communities they were created to serve.”

Former Mayor Bernard “Jack” Young, who led efforts to launch BCYF roughly a decade ago, criticized Scott’s plan to utilize the fund for his own programs last year.

“I’m an unhappy camper about how the youth fund is being run and how the funds have been disseminated because a lot of organizations doing great work have not been given funding — some have, but the majority haven’t,” Young told Spotlight on Maryland in June.

BCYF did not respond to a request for comment on Scott’s preliminary budget.

Scott’s office, in a statement to Spotlight on Maryland last week, said BCYF money was used to provide crucial services for youth last year.

“The Mayor’s office believes that investments in youth sports, YouthWorks, and summer youth engagement programs are an appropriate use of BCYF dollars, and we are glad the board agreed,” the mayor’s spokesperson wrote in an email. “Last year’s summer youth engagement strategy played an instrumental role in decreasing youth homicide and nonfatal shooting victims by 17.1%, decreasing youth robbery victimizations by 30.9%, and helped provide safe environments for the over 1,300 young people who attended at least one of three splash fest teen pool parties and the over 3,000 young people who attended a BCRP summer camp.”

ALSO READ | Baltimore youth fund denies request for docs on how taxpayer money is spent

The budget debate over BCYF comes amid a series of controversies about how the nonprofit spends taxpayer dollars. The Baltimore City Inspector General has a pending investigation into BCYF’s operations.

The Baltimore City Council is scheduled to debate a bill Monday that would provide additional oversight of BCYF, such as a newly required performance audit.

Spotlight on Maryland published dozens of stories on transparency and spending concerns at BCYF over the past two years, including how the organization spent roughly $10 million on consulting since 2020 and $300,000 on out-of-state trips for its adult staff and partners since 2024.

Additionally, three former BCYF employees told Spotlight on Maryland this year that BCYF President Alysia Lee hired two of her close friends to top executive positions with six-figure salaries. Lee makes $219,000, according to records obtained in a public information request. BCYF relies on more than 99% of its revenue from city taxpayer dollars.

Baltimore City Councilman Isaac “Yitzy” Schleifer (District 5) cited concerns about BCYF spending as a legitimate reason for Scott’s office to utilize its funding for more proven programs, such as YouthWorks.

“I think Youthworks is one of the best programs that we have in the City, coupled with the fact that the Baltimore Children and Youth Fund has not had the impact it was set to have—nor has the money been spent in the way that it’s supposed to be spent,” he told Spotlight on Maryland. “They have so many consultants, a lot of insiders getting paid big dollars through consultant fees. When you look at the list of how much money people are making who orchestrated the fund or who are involved in it—it’s not actually getting to the kids like the fund was set out to do. The whole purpose of the fund is to get money to grassroots organizations in the city that are doing good work for kids in the city. Unfortunately, that is just not happening.”

Schleifer said he wants BCYF to publish an open checkbook online to show how tax dollars are spent.

“We should be able to see exactly where the money goes, who it goes to, whether it’s consultants or any other expenditure of the fund,” he told Spotlight on Maryland. “You should be able to see every dollar spent for every dollar in.”

Last month, BCYF said it was unable to complete a public information request by Spotlight on Maryland asking for records of how its grantees spent millions of taxpayer dollars in 2024 and 2025.

Spotlight on Maryland is a joint venture by The Baltimore Sun, FOX45 News and WJLA in Washington, D.C. Have a news tip? Call 410-467-4670 or email SpotlightOnMaryland@sbgtv.com. Contact Patrick Hauf atpjhauf@sbgtv.comand @PatrickHauf.