Pennsylvania Avenue Black Arts and Entertainment District

What it reported doing in 2024

The project restart is a multi-prong initiative to restimulate the creative economy in west baltimore by sponsoring local curators who create arts, entertainment and cultural experiences, curating marquee events and providing training, fellowship, internships, and development and networking opportunities for black creatives. This initiative seeks to reduce the negative economic impacts of the covid 19 pandemic, speed up recovery efforts for the arts and cultural community, and leverage resources as a catalyst for the long-term resilience, vibrancy, and sustainability of black creatives. Project restore dewmore baltimore initiatives: dewmore baltimore youth poetry league engages youth in middle schools, high schools and various city institutions using the power of poetry. Poets participate in weekly dynamic writing and performance workshops from acclaimed artists that will expose poets to complex concepts, advanced vocabulary, and critical analysis. The program creates a safe space for poets to explore who they are and where they are from on a local and national platform. Using slam as a vehicle to self discovery, poets exercise the art of "truth-telling." with the support of the school's faculty coach, a teaching artist and a community of writers, every moment of development - from the page to stage - is guaranteed to be a transformational experience on average each year we work with 10 schools but our goal is to build capacity and work with more middle and high schools. Youth poetry festival - every spring, dewmore baltimore hosts the dewmore baltimore youth poetry festival. This is Maryland's largest spoken word festival. Here, students are given the opportunity to meet like-minded youth of their age group who they would have normally never encountered. They attend workshops by some of the region's most recognized artists and organizers. The young people learn together, build relationships and have a great time, then engage in some healthy competition. This type of cross community building will help to decrease violence and bolster a sincere love for our city. Baltimore youth poet laureate program - the youth poet laureate program appoints a youth from the age of 13-19 every year to represent baltimore on a local and national platform and two additional youth that co-serve as ambassadors. Every spring, city hall hosts up to 12 creative, honest and powerful youth voices to compete for the title of baltimore's appointed youth poet laureate. The youth poet laureate will be responsible for being a youth ambassador of baltimore's art and culture community as they speak, share, and build locally and nationally. The ypl will receive a cash prize, a national book deal, an opportunity to represent baltimore internationally, and will perform on a local enoch pratt library tour that will bring this powerful experience to the community. Maya-baraka writers institute- the maya angelou writers institute (mbwi) is a writing program that hires student writers to participate in a series of poetry workshops and cultural activities including local performances and visits to historical art sites. Mawi focuses on providing context to art as activism that is accessible and relevant for millennials by providing access to presentations by local non-profit and for-profit leaders, writers, artists and activists, films/videos, informative reading material and creative writing workshops.

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 51%; rating input score 51
• Program expense ratio: 73.9%; rating input score 74
• Fundraising efficiency: $20.76 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 59; 59th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
• Pay-setting controls: Limited
• Foreign activity oversight: Limited
• Grant itemization coverage: 95.5%; rating input score 95; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
• Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
• Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

• Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
• Governance controls: 8 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 100
  • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
  • Whistleblower policy: Pass
  • Document-retention policy: Pass
  • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
  • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
  • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
  • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
  • Audit committee oversight: Pass
  • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

• Operating margin: 31%; rating input score 85; 85th percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.69; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.08; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 19.3%; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 26.7% per year; rating input score 100; 88th percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 42.1% per year; rating input score 100; 95th percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 49.6% per year; rating input score 100; 96th percentile among comparable filings