What: 
The Mayor’s Office of Employment Development, Youth Opportunity Division welcomes Mayor Sheila Dixon and Craig Thompson, Esq., partner at Venable, LLP and host of Front Line on Morgan University radio station WEAA-FM, as they address YO! Baltimore’s 2009 graduates. The graduating class is comprised of 58 young adults, who chose to pursue alternative education after facing challenges in traditional settings. Enrolling in the Youth Opportunity (YO!) Academy high school, in partnership with Baltimore City Public Schools, or YO! Baltimore centers, these graduates have overcome significant obstacles, including dropping out of school, teen pregnancy and substance abuse, to achieve academic and career preparation success.
 
When: 
Wednesday, July 15, 2009 at 6:00 p.m.

Where: 
Johns Hopkins University
Shriver Hall
3400 N. Charles Street
Baltimore, MD 21218

Background: 
For the past nine years, Baltimore’s Youth Opportunity (YO! Baltimore) has been serving out-of-school youth and young adults by giving them a second chance to become productive citizens by providing educational, personal development, and career preparation resources and activities. For the first time since it opened three years ago, YO! Academy high school seniors will be sharing the stage with young adults who dropped out of school and earned their general Maryland High School diplomas.

YO! Baltimore offers services at two, youth-friendly locations. The YO! Academy shares the Westside Center’s address:

• Youth Opportunity (YO!) Academy and the Westside Youth Opportunity Center
  1510 W. Lafayette Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21217
  410-545-6953
• Eastside Youth Opportunity Center
  HEBCAC (Historical East Baltimore Community Action Coalition)
  1212 N. Wolfe Street, Baltimore, MD 21213
  410-732-2661