• Teach and assist in mak-
ing art projects
• Help facilitate job training
sessions
• Organize donations to
the program
• Assist offsite programs
and at special events
During my time at Art with a Heart, my main responsibility was helping to teach and make art
with our group of YouthWorkers and participants from Youth Empowered Society (YES). But
this internship was so much more than that. Through HeARTworks, our workforce develop-
ment program, we teach job skills and help our YES participants find jobs. A lot of this training
was different from what I thought it would be. Most of it involved unlearning what different
factors of our society has taught them: that they are hopeless individuals. Instead we taught
them not just customer service skills and emotional coping mechanisms, but also that they
are people that are full of possibility. This is not to say that we did all the work for this change
in thinking to take place, but we were able to provide both a physical and mental safe space
that allowed it to happen. It was amazing to witness the change that took place in some of
our YouthWorkers and YES group. They opened up and were able to talk more freely and
express themselves creatively through the art that we created.
This internship has taught me so much about myself and about this city that I have called
home for the past two years. I learned that I can lead, that I can teach. I usually considered
myself more of a follower until this internship. It also allowed me to connect with the Bal-
timore community in a way that I have not been able to experience on my own during my
time at Hopkins. I found common ground but also learned so much that I didn’t know from
my peers in the program. Things that I could never learn in a class on campus or from other
Hopkins students. I hope that one day I can see where they end up or that we can continue to
keep in touch and remain friends after the program is over.
Community Partner:
Art with a Heart
Intern: Katie Dominguez
Site Supervisor: Christina Ralls
What is Art with a Heart?
Art with a Heart brings inter-
active visual arts classes into
schools, community centers,
group homes, shelters, perma-
nent housing facilities, hospitals,
and senior housing facilities.
Founded in 2000, Art with a
Heart has experienced steady
growth, from four small classes
a week to 11,000 annually, with
a proven track record for devel-
oping creative initiatives and
accessible paths to success for
individuals living in Baltimore’s
most vulnerable communities.
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