Featuring:

Mayor Brandon Scott

Councilman Zeke Cohen

Young Elder, Youth Co-Chair

Taylor Clinton, Youth Co-Chair

Moderated By:

Ericka Alston, REBOUND

Featuring HeartSmiles Ambassadors:

Taylor Clinton

Lamar Hill

D'Aubre Lewis

Kamri Moses

A conversation with youth about how to respect them as individuals, honor their boundaries, and open productive lines of communication.

Featuring:

Young Elder

Lydell Hills

Amourai Mayo

Presented By:

Art with a Heart

Youth apprentices that have gone through the Art with a Heart workforce development program, which is centered on trauma-informed care practices and using art as a tool for teaching job readiness skills, will teach an art project as a calming exercise with recylcleable materials that participants can easily find. 

Presented By:

Brandon Clayton

An interactive session where young people will develop strategies for coping with stress on a daily basis. Youth will leave this interactive workshop with strategies to utilize right away, recognizing what causes stress and how to productively channel the stress they experience into personal strength and success.

Presented By:

Khayyum Muhammad

A workshop focusing on recognizing signs of depression and anxiety in ourselves and peers, and developing coping strategies for ourselves and supporting others. Our workshop will also focus on identifying resource gaps and needs for youth and young adults.

Presented By:

Tiffany Ginyard

SELF Sessions give young people the opportunity to develop the personal and life skills needed to successfully navigate change, transition, and elevation in every dimension of their lives.

Presented By:

Kamri Moses, HeartSmiles

Taylor Clinton, HeartSmiles

Jazzi Pridgen, 

Entrepreneurship knows no age. Being young and successful is rooted in skills like time management, work/school balance, building customer relationships, and taking advantage of available resources. Learn how to define your own future.

Presented By:

Wide Angle Youth Media

Did you know that creativity can help reduce anxiety, depression, and stress? In this session, youth from Wide Angle Youth Media will share their tips and tricks for destressing through photography and design.

Presented By:

Students from CHARM Lit Mag

We will read pieces that have been published in CHARM Lit Mag, written by young writers in Baltimore. Participants will have the opportunity to write their own short literary pieces to be considered by our publication.

Presented By:

Ania McNair, Not For Sale

Human Trafficking continues to be a plague in Baltimore because of its ability to hide from our everyday awareness. Not For Sale, a youth-led organization, will shine a light on trafficking's impact on mental health for its victims and the urgent need to expose the perpetrators behind it.

Presented By:

Centro Sol

A panel discussion with young women from the LatinX community about their experiences with trauma and healing. 

Presented By:

Lydell Hills, Truth to Power

Participants will engage in a centering exercise intended to deepen their connection with their ancestral roots and origins, reflecting on the experiences that resulted in their story. Participants will be guided to use this inspiration in the creation of their own art work, poem, or song. 

Featuring HeartSmiles Young Male Leaders:

Donte Hill

Na'im Adams

Lamar Hill

Taking care of your mental health is a sign of strength, not weakness. This raw and honest dialogue will defy stigma in focusing on the importance of mental health for young men, how they feel, and how they heal. 

Presented By:

Dewmore

Exposing young people to literature as a way to process difficult topics, critical analysis, accurate and dynamic communication as they discuss issues for today and tomorrow impacting them, their peers, their community. The performance/workshop will allow youth to build relationships with others from around the region, as a safe space is created for poets to explore who they are, where they are from, and affirm their identity.

Presented By:

Miles Green

This workshop will explain what credit is and how it works, providing resources on how to establish and build credit, or how to repair and restore it. Learn how to empower your future through a solid understanding of credit and how to use it.

Presented By:

Fred Watkins, Lil' Laughs Corporation

Learn why it’s healthy to laugh at your mistakes. Finding the humor in some of your worst moments is a reminder that you're not the only one going through what you are. Laugh and learn with Comedian Big Fred and Lil' Laughs, as we break down why it's healthy to laugh at your mistakes. 

Presented By:

YPR: Young People in Recovery

A panel discussion on the impact of substance use on young people in Baltimore and the work being done to realize a world where all young people have the resources they need to thrive in recovery and overcoming addiction.

Presented By:

Bry Reed, Writers in Baltimore Schools

An exploration of Black feminist healing practices using the writing of Barbara Smith, Toni Morrison, Solange, and Flo Milli. Participants will learn how writing can be a healing practice. All are invited to attend, regardless of gender. 

Featuring: 

Erica Green, NYTimes Columnist

Wesley Hawkins, Nolita Project

John King, Fmr. Education Secretary

Youth ask our panelists questions about their experiences growing up as black youth in urban landscapes, and how they overcame challenges.

Hosted By HeartSmiles Ambassors:

Donte Hill

Taylor Clinton

We close out this powerful day with a Social Hour Cypher featuring beats by DJ Ms. Joni of HeartSmiles. All youth are welcome to participate. 

Featuring:

Councilman Zeke Cohen

Dr. Melissa Buckley, Coppin State

Moderator:

Wes Moore, CEO, Robin Hood Foundation

Panelists:

Annette March Grier, Roberta's House

Joe Jones, Center for Urban Families

Maya Rockeymoore Cummings

Jemira Queen, Healing Youth Alliance

An interactive panel exploring a multidisciplinary, multigenerational approach to healing during one of our city's most challenging periods.

Featuring:

Young Elder & Lydell Hills

Presented By:

Dr. Kyla Liggett-Creel, UMD School of Social Work

Through this interactive presentation, participants will learn an overview of what trauma-informed care is and then learn how to move to Healing Centered Engagement which is a culturally based healing framework focused on collective healing. Participants will also actively engage in brainstorming strategies to implement Healing Centered Engagement in various settings.

Presented By:

Nneka Namdi, Fight Blight Baltimore

This presentation will give a basic overview of how blight developed in Baltimore, how it causes trauma to people, and the impact it has on generational wealth transfer via the family house in our community. The presentation will provide a practical framework for combating blight through cultural practice and estate planning in order to prevent future and open pathways to heal past trauma(s). 

Presented By:

Ana Rodney, MOMCares

Community organizations share their views on how to approach messaging about the vaccine in the face of culturally-based medical distrust and a complicated history of medical practices and abuse in Baltimore. 

Presented By:

Dr. Colleen Curran, Zen Path Wellness

Acupressure is a natural, non-invasive, and evidence-based modality that anyone can utilize to empower one's self on the path of healing.  

Presented By:

Maryland Crime Victims' Resource Center, Inc.

This presentation consists of an identification of the constitutional and statutory rights that Maryland citizens have access to. We will identify how those rights assist victims in obtaining restitution from the convicted defendant.  

Presented By Heart Nest Center's:

Dr. Sabrina N'Diaye

Kenya Pope

Akilah Muhammad

The current pandemic has left yet another crack in the hearts of the African-American community—the death of our elder women. African America has lost their beloved "Big Mama". Join us for a moment of connection and remembrance of  Baltimore's Big Mamas—the thousands of women who held us up, and who continue to inspire us to keep walking, serving, and thriving. 

Presented By:

Dr. Melissa Buckley, Coppin State University

Shortly after it became clear COVID was going to ravage our way of life as we know it, a group of social work students and other volunteers created the Baltimore Neighbors Network to directly combat the isolation the pandemic has created for our city's most vulnerable. Learn about the ongoing virtual work to support older adults through now 30,000+ phone calls and plans for future expansion.

Presented By:

Daniel Parsons & Frederick Douglass Students

Presented By:

Mt Washington Pediatric Hospital

A panel discussion with licensed psychologists on how parents can improve their children's resilience and support their healing process.

Presented By:

Maritza Alcoreza-Dominguez, Living Classrooms Foundation

Expand your love language for yourself and your family. Talk about what's stressing you out. Learn some tips for space and time management. Develop healthy habits. Make a plan to spend more quality time together. What does that mean for your family? Join us for mindfulness meditation practice and reflection on Forever Loving Your Family.

Presented By:

Mark Jews, Holistic Health Counseling and Coaching

Providing a different approach to wellness strategies— mental, physical, nutrition, spiritual, and  social/emotional—through a lively education session.

Presented By:

Fulton Bank

Financial stability and independence can greatly affect mental and emotional wellbeing. Learn about creating a personal spending plan/budget, better understanding credit and how to use it wisely, and the benefits of home ownership.

Presented By:

Kerry Graves, National Alliance on Mental Illness 

Tevis Simon, Mental Health Advocate

This session will work to change attitudes, assumptions, and ideas about mental health conditions and bring awareness to mental health disparity. Participants will be given tools and resources for managing their own mental health.

Presented By:

Dr. David Fakunle, DiscoverME/RecoverME

This workshop facilitates understanding of the importance of storytelling in culture, the function of the griot in the context of trauma, analyzing the primary components of a story, application of positive intrinsic qualities in an effort to create and fortify emotional foundations for recovery and healing, and modalities for expressing one’s story.

Yoga with Mica Saunders of Moxie Movez

Zumba with the Alzheimer's Association of Greater Baltimore

Meditation with Ty McDermott of Bridging Gaps Through Positive Solutions

Featuring: 

Andrea Brown, Black Mental Health Alliance

Dr. Kaye Whitehead, Karson Institute for Race, Peace & Social Justice

Mally Deveraux, Baltimore Safe Haven

True healing and change can only begin when we acknowledge systemic racism, commit to ending it, pursue opportunity and justice for all, and break down the barriers to humanity between neighborhoods and people.  Hear from the various perspectives that embody the Healing City mission.

Featuring:

Shantay Jackson, Office of Neighborhood Safety & Engagement

Ray Kelly, Citizens Policing Project

Erricka Bridgeford, Baltimore Ceasefire

Truly breaking the cycle of violence begins with understanding and addressing the underlying trauma that fuels it. We will discuss the need for holistic systems of programs and resources in support of community-centered public safety and violence intervention to empower social and behavior change. 

Featuring:

Troy Staton, More Than A Shop Initiative

Donna Bruce, Stylist & Social Justice Advocate

Larry Wilson, Healing Hands Barbershop

In Baltimore's neighborhoods, non-traditional spaces like barber shops, salons, and other businesses become community centers and places of healing. Hear how these unofficial santuaries build community ties through the healing hands and guiding wisdom of the local leaders who preside over them.