BALTIMORE — Wednesday’s deadly violence involving youth underscores the importance of providing a safe space for our kids here in Baltimore.
Many of us have been introduced to "Uncle T" before, but now the youth advocate is putting his program on steroids to meet the demand to save our students.
Terry ‘Uncle T’ Williams is not new to serving Baltimore’s youth.
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We’ve showed him in action summer after summer pouring into East Baltimore students through his program Challenge 2 Change.
Well, the program is getting an even bigger platform he and his mentees are elated about.
“I feel like it’s going to be powerful,” one student said.
“When you’re able to reach more people you’re able to make a greater impact. More people, more impact especially when what you’re giving them is of substance,” Uncle T shared.
Walking through room by room, he’s beaming with pride now that his new space for the community center can more than double its capacity.
Expanding the change hasn’t been a solo job. His mentees added their own strokes to the picture.
“All of them had brushes in their hands. They helped paint the building. They know that with each stroke of a brush, they’ve played a part in help making this vision become a reality,” said Uncle T.
“It was awesome because it came from like …this whole building was all orange. This whole building was literally all orange and now we got the girls room, the mirror room, all of that,” one student explained.
The center is under renovation, but when it’s finished it’ll serve as a house of hope.
“This center shows kids that it’s better stuff to do in here than be out in the streets, selling drugs or out there killing people at the young age of 16,” Carrell Mathews, Uncle T’s mentee shared.
Carl Michael Stokey, a long time partner of Uncle T, understands the power of the program and it’s expansion.
"This space elevates his skill level and gives him an opportunity to reach more people across the spectrum. I think this community center along with all of the things he’s been doing personally socially even financially will save lives,” said Stokey.
The aim is simply to save lives and create a clear vision for success achieve by moguls like Michael Jordan, Warren Buffet and Mike Epps.
“These young men, at that age, would’ve never known that they would have become who they have become, but someone saw something in them, the same way that I see in these youth today,” said Uncle T.
Uncle T credits his program’s expansion to grants provided by the Open Society Institute Baltimore Fellowship, The Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement and the Baltimore Children and Youth Fund.
