Community Partner: Youth Empowered Society
Intern: Sam Paek
Site Supervisor: Dylan McDonough
What is Youth Empowered Society?
Drop‐In Center is a safe space for youth, who are homeless or at‐risk of homelessness and between ages 14‐25,
to get basic needs met and establish supportive relationships with peer counselors and allies that help them
make and sustain connections to long‐term resources and opportunities.
This summer was an exciting mix of learning, planning, and doing—sometimes all in a single
day! Never having worked with a nonprofit organization before, I came in not knowing what
to expect at all: I had almost no experience working directly with homeless youth, not to
mention I had no idea what went on in the background, otherwise known as case
management (i.e. basically the real important stuff that includes I.D. assistance, benefits
assistance, housing assistance, you name it). The mission of YES is to prevent and eliminate
youth homelessness, and I was immediately immersed into its community of homeless youth
and allies, introduced to some of the most dedicated and hardworking people I have ever
met. It was difficult at first; I was the new guy on the block, and it took a while for some of
the youth to warm up to me (and even I to them). However, as I got to know many of them, I
realized homelessness as an all‐encompassing label does not do any justice to the
experiences of the youth, nor does it provide an easy answer to whom these individuals are.
Much of their stories are deeply personal, imbued with circumstances out of their control,
often reflecting a system designed to trap much of our country’s poor where they are.
This is not to say that it was a completely smooth sail. Working at YES brought some of my
biggest flaws to the surface, and challenged me in ways that I had not expected. Attaching a
filter onto the things I say been difficult for me, and when you are getting yelled at by youth
in the kitchen, sometimes that filter disappears. On top of this, I found out I’m just really bad
at being in a leadership position. I’ve always prided myself on being an excellent follower,
capable of following directions thoroughly and effectively, but being the one to coordinate
something (a.k.a. driver’s education classes for our youth) put me in a seat that I was very
uncomfortable in. Thankfully, the staff at YES was very supportive of my flaws and my
shortcomings, but if anything, it was a big learning experience for me. Our drop‐ins ranged
from completely quiet to utterly chaotic, and I would be lying if I said days got repetitive—
nope, I saw something new every week.
In Baltimore, homelessness is a public health problem—it is our problem. We cannot be
students at Hopkins and ignore homelessness, however easy it may be. Social justice is
everyone’s responsibility. ‐ Sam
Tasks:
● Supported drop‐in activities by handing out
food, tokens, clothing items, etc.
● Coordinated a driver’s ed program for the youth
through a partnership with a local driving
school, and supported them passing their
permit tests at the MVA
● General administrative tasks such as answering
phone calls, faxing, setting up computers, and
inputting data into the Baltimore City HMIS.
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