BALTIMORE — Keirah Hicks, owner WOW Youth Center has a vision for each and every kid that walks through her doors.
In just a few weeks, those visions will become reality when she opens her business up.
"I grew up in this community. It's something that we never had growing up in this particular neighborhood and it's very few that I know of in the city," said Hicks.
WOW Youth Center is scheduled to open in mid July. Hicks' top priority is to create a safe space for children that grew up in the same Northwest Dolfield Avenue community she did.
"I remember growing up and I remember it being hard. But I don't remember anybody ever tapping in to any of that. I don't remember when I had issues or I had a bad day someone asking what's wrong. So I want to create a space to where we know that's needed," said Hicks.
Inside the building, children will be exposed to many different things like stem activities, games, a movie room, arts and crafts and plenty more. Helping them reach their full potential.
"That's one of the things that I want to extend to the children, is having them come in and tap into doing things that they are not used to doing. Even if they're already doing it on smaller scale, drawing and coloring on a piece of paper now we can bring it to a wall or a mural," said Hicks.
This desire to impact kids stems from Hicks' upbringing. At one point she was in and out the foster system estranged from her family including her identical twin sister. She's invested eight years worth of savings for the kids in Northwest.
"Everybody needs love. A lot of the children that I deal with, I noticed that's the best thing that I could do for them is love on them," said Hicks.
If you'd like to reach out to Hicks you can reach her by phone at 410-777-6622 OR wowyouthservices@gmail.com OR on Instagram @wowyouthcenter
