YouthWorks Summer Wrap Up

Live Baltimore Staff

Our YouthWorks intern, Daijah, spent five weeks with us this summer as an apprentice to learn about communications and marketing Baltimore City as a great place to live. Hear about her experience in her own words.

Wrapping presents, writing blogs, making promotional tweets and learning about informational e-news communication is not what I thought I would be doing this summer. This summer was different. This apprenticeship was different.

Prior to working at Live Baltimore I have worked numerous internships where I never had the chance to experience an actual job of a working professional because I was doing tedious things including filing papers, organizing file cabinets and the general tidying of the offices where I had been working.

My experience at Live Baltimore was different. I thought my summer would be boring and the five weeks I would spend at Live Baltimore would feel more like five months, but it was the opposite. They required that my tasks be done in a timely fashion, that I write in a certain style and display the right amount of professionalism each day. Live Baltimore was exactly what I needed this summer! This apprenticeship gave me professional experience that I haven’t had before and what I’ve learned will be helpful as I leave for college next week.

I was able to experience new things while practicing to be a responsible professional. I made, wrapped and put bows around gifts for Birthday Bash, the organization’s largest annual event. I took a neighborhood tour around Barclay (which is located in the heart of the City) and visited a lot of businesses, including Terra Cafe, Flourish and Grind House Juice Bar, that I can’t wait to get back to!

All of my work this summer helped me get a better understanding of what Live Baltimore is all about. I learned that it’s a nonprofit organization that promotes living in Baltimore City. The organization gathers resources, shares information about housing incentives and offers firsthand knowledge about city living with the goal of encouraging people to consider living in the city. I believe my city needs an organization full of hard working people to make city living the best it could possibly be— Live Baltimore is it!

This summer, I was given my own work space in the center of a very nice and caring office that made this the best internship I’ve ever had. Live Baltimore’s staff was very supportive and cared about my life outside of work in addition to making sure I was able to learn as much as possible during my short time here. They even celebrated my birthday! I wish I could have stayed longer than five weeks because I feel as if I’m not done yet, like there is more to learn and more to be researched.

As I get ready to leave for Delaware State University I know that this experience was a good one to prepare me for my career and I look forward to exploring the city further whenever I come home from school.

Daijah graduated in June from Baltimore City College and is headed to Delaware State University this fall. She hopes to study biology and early childhood education. Her experience at Live Baltimore was part of YouthWorks, a summer job program coordinated by the Mayor’s Office of Employment Development.