BALTIMORE — When Wanye Brown was just a student in college, all he could think about was giving back to his community.
Born and raised in Baltimore, he saw and heard all the crime and violence that flooded the media cycle.
That's when he went to his childhood friend and his cousin with the idea of creating the Baltimore Homeless Project.
A nonprofit designed with one goal, to end homelessness in Baltimore City.
"We never wanted to be a nonprofit," Brown said, "We just genuinely wanted to help out and help the community and help others here in the city. And we love giving back, and we love spreading love."
"When Wanye first came to me about the project, it brought me back to my childhood, because our family always gives back. It's something that's like a normal thing for us. So when he brought it up to me, it was more like, oh, that's familiar territory. Like, why not? Let's give back to the less fortunate," said Terence Watts, co-founder of the Baltimore Homeless Project and Wanye's cousin.
"I love giving back, you know, That's kind of how I want to live my life. And when he brought up that idea, I was all in. I was locked in from day one. I wanted to go out and help my community, I wanted to be supportive of my brother and my best friend," said Jordan Dixon, co-founder of the Baltimore Homeless Project and a childhood friend of Wanye's.
The nonprofit helps the homeless community in a number of ways, from providing free haircuts, transportation, and even shelter.
Another event they hold yearly is their Mobile Meals event.
In 2024, the nonprofit distributed 1,500 hot meals to the homeless community in Baltimore.
To give out that much food, it definitely takes a village.
"If it wasn't for Baltimore, and the type of heart that the people have when they reach out to us, to volunteer, to donate to help, we wouldn't be touching as many people we touch. We wouldn't be having 1500 meals passed out each year. We wouldn't have a certain amount of haircuts getting cut, a certain amount of people reaching to emergency shelters. We won't have that much if it wasn't for the village that's behind us, supporting us and believing in that mission," Brown said.
On top of the community support, all three founders told WMAR that the Baltimore Homeless Project partners with local businesses and universities, including Morgan State.
In fact, their most recent donation came from the Patterson Park Charter School, who donated $700.
Brown said another goal they had is to work with Baltimore City officials, specifically the Mayor's Office of Homeless Services, to try to secure a partnership to continue their work in the community.
"We don't have no state funding. We just applied to our first grant. So, everything is still coming out of pockets. That's a hardship, like Jordan said, that we still face. So, we're still funding through our pockets, but we just had more of a support with the community now," Brown said.
With 2024 in the books, all three young men are looking towards how they can make a difference in 2025.
They told WMAR they want to double the meals they gave out last year and hand out more efficient resources.
But they also want to continue to grow as pillars in the community.
"We want to learn more about our community so we can help more on the biggest scale. So, that's that's a goal. We want to do more fundraising, and we just want to help on a higher scale, but definitely funding," said Brown.
"Just each year get bigger and bigger. I know we have long term goals or short term goals. Just try to get bigger and better each year," Watts said.
"We want to just continue to learn, Just continue to get better in order to show growth in our community. Just continue to touch more and more people in our community," said Dixon.
If you would like to donate or learn more about the Baltimore Homeless Project, click here.
Their website will have information on when they hold their events and how you can sign up to volunteer.
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