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BALTIMORE, MD. (June 13, 2012) – Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake announced the opening of the Baltimore City Summer Curfew Center. The Curfew Center is located at Success Academy, 200 East North Avenue, Baltimore, Maryland and will be operational Friday and Saturday from 12:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m., June 15 through August 11.
Mayor Rawlings-Blake was joined by Baltimore City Police Deputy Commissioner John Skinner; Karen Webber-Ndour, Executive Director of Student Support and Safety for Baltimore City Public Schools; Dwain Johnson, Statewide Violence Prevention Initiative Director for the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services; and Molly McGrath, Director of the Baltimore City Department of Social Services.
“Reducing youth violence requires a collaborative approach between law enforcement, juvenile justice partners, and core service agencies,” said Mayor Rawlings-Blake. “Baltimore’s Summer Curfew Center is an interagency collaboration, designed to prevent violence, make parents accountable for the whereabouts of their children, and provide supervision and services for vulnerable families.”
The Curfew Center is intended to get youth off the streets and hold parents accountable, but more importantly, the center provides families access to services. The center will utilize the Baltimore City Police Department’s diversion assessors, who are a part of the City’s diversion initiative at the Baltimore City Juvenile Detention Center, to assist families in need of services. All youth are also offered a boxed meal, donated by Centerplate, while they wait for their parents. Last year, 748 youth came through the Curfew Center, with an average of 28 juveniles per night.
“The curfew center—along with the vigilance of parents, neighbors, and community members—is an important way that we all work together to make sure every child has a safe and happy summer,” added Director McGrath.
Youth who are currently under the supervision of DJS will be counseled at the center to report to their case worker the next business day. If youth fail to report, a violation will be filed with the court. DJS workers will also check the Kid Safety Net Dashboard to determine youth who are co-committed to DJS and DHR.
DJS and Baltimore City have also embarked upon unprecedented collaborations together over the last four years. DJS and the Baltimore Police Department have been working jointly on unannounced curfew checks for DJS youth in its Violence Prevention Initiative (VPI), which provides heightened supervision of youth at the greatest risk of being a perpetrator or victim of a crime of violence. Three years ago, the City and DJS also the merged the VPI program with Operation Safe Kids (OSK), a program run by the Health Department. VPI youth receive services through OSK and are assigned an OSK case worker, in addition to their DJS case worker.
The Center is coordinated by the Mayor’s Office on Criminal Justice, in partnership with Baltimore City Public Schools, School Police, the Baltimore Police Department, the Department of Juvenile Services, and the Department of Social Services and is funded by the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) program.
During the announcement, the Mayor also promoted the City’s larger effort to provide opportunities to young people, called Baltimore City Super Summer. This innovative partnership between the City of Baltimore, Baltimore City Public Schools, and nonprofits connects young people to learning, meals, reading, and fun in the summer months. Parents and guardians interested in connecting their children with programs in their community should visit www.youthbmore.org or call 211 for more information.
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