BALTIMORE — A local nonprofit is desperately looking for a new building to host their youth summer camp after the building was recently vandalized.
It happened inside the Crispus Attucks Recreation Center connected to Eutaw Marshburn Elementary school in Northwest Baltimore.
That Baltimore Stream Summer Camp, organized by Leader Breeders, focuses on sports, technology , behavioral and mental health.
It was set to begin July 17, now organizers like Coach Tiny are looking for a new location so they can still impact those kids who need it.
“Our main mission is youth development in any capacity,” Adams said.
Corin Adams, who many know as coach Tiny, is the Co-founder of Leader Breeders, the nonprofit with strategic goals of developing Baltimore’s youth.
“My goal is to figure out what the youth is passionate about, and then figure out how to both empower them and enlighten them to make a career out of it,” Adams said.
Sam Brand, who's the Director of Team Melo and Team Melo MD 23, is one of the community groups partnering with Leader Breeders.
“The best way to impact young people if you’re in sport, the best way to do it is to pay attention to the whole child,” Brand said.
So far this summer, Leader Breeders have hosted a basketball clinic for a group of 30 coed middle school students. On July 17, they planned to partner with many other community groups to begin their three-week Baltimore Stream Camp when the Crispus Attucks Recreation Center where they were having it was vandalized.
“Some people came in, destroyed the building, took out some copper and other things and we're now unable to use this space,” Adams said.
The Baltimore Stream Camp is meant to not only help 60 elementary aged kids develop better basketball skills, but to expose them to greater STEM opportunities outside of regular school.
“So Microsoft donated 30 computers and also programming that we were going to use to focus on things like coding. They had a whole curriculum that we were going to basically partner with them to piece together for the camp,” Adams said.
In addition to the sports and technology piece their partners also planned to help the students with behavioral and mental health.
“We feel real strongly about our ability to provide a program. We don’t think is something that’s already out there for Baltimore youth, we think we’re doing something a little different. Getting people in the elite space in both athletics and academics, and behavioral health, combining all of that to provide elite services for young people that normally don’t get access to them,” Brand said.
And with the deadline of their initial start date rapidly approaching, they’re hoping they can find an alternative suitable location to operate.
“We’re going to stay optimistic. It’s unfortunate, and it sucks, specifically for the youth. Not only was going to be instructional and empowering, but it was going to be fun. We got a small set back but I’m positive that will find a location or another way to kind of execute this program,” Adams said.
Organizers said whoever vandalized this building is not only taking away from the youth in this camp, but from the community and the people who live around there.
“Who doesn’t like summer camp at that age of elementary you know from 1st to 5th grade. It kind of helps them figure out things they may be interested in, things that they can look forward to developing a passion for. With this program it wasn’t just going to be basketball. My message for the people doing the vandalizing, if you could just stop and help us clean up some of these areas instead of making it worse on whoever tries to use this facility. I don’t know what they’re into, but you’re taking away opportunity from not just the youth, but the community,” Adams said.
If you would like to help this group find another location to host their summer camp email them at Leaderbreeders@gmail.com of follow them on social media @leaderbreeders .
