“We started with a couple of mobile carts selling water and juice down at the Inner Harbor. It was a way to create opportunities for youth in the summer. Today it’s Frozen Desert Sorbet – a youth-run business with 20 carts across the city, a café, and a private label for wholesale customers. We’re the largest sorbet manufacturer in Baltimore City. Back then we also started doing apparel manufacturing and training. We called the brand Made In BMore Clothing so young people in the city could take pride in Baltimore. Within a year, we opened our first clothing store in Mondawmin mall. Within five years, we had our own building. Now at year eleven, we’re in a 10,000 square-foot facility. We’re partnering with Sagamore Ventures and Baltimore City Community College to create a one-year certificate in apparel design that will guarantee job placements. It’s the first program of its kind.
The fact of the matter is, young people want opportunity. When you give them one, they work hard. That’s why we focus on empowerment — education yes, but opening up a book and telling people basic principles about entrepreneurship isn’t the way. That’s not empowerment; it’s just information. Developing enterprises is the key component if we want to actually create GDP in the African American community. When businesses come into the community, and hire within the community, the tax base is lifted, the crime rate is reduced, vacants become value, and people are proud and motivated because they see others advancing and improving. The young people we’ve worked with know the sky is the limit for them now; they reach for the stars. They want to go to college, to start more businesses — the impact has been profound. Our communities need that breath of life. Entrepreneurship and business development are that breath of life.”
Rasheed Aziz is Director of CityWide Youth Development. (Photo by New Lens Productions).
Find out more about programs and resources you can work with to pursue, encourage, and support black entrepreneurship in Baltimore.
The #EveryStoryCounts Campaign
You don’t have to be a climate scientist or city planner to create sustainability + resilience. Everyone has a story to tell about making Baltimore a stronger, fairer and safer place for all of us.
Be a part of our #EveryStoryCounts Campaign by sharing yours on social media using the hashtag #EveryStoryCounts, or by sharing your words and pictures with us at sustainability@baltimorecity.gov.