In 2017, a Task Force of community leaders, youth program service providers, City government representatives and other key community representatives was convened to make recommendations on the Fund’s governance and operations. The Task Force presented recommendations which stressed the importance of racial equity and community empowerment as core principles guiding the Fund’s design, and developed the following guiding values under which to operate:

• Our work is informed, driven and led by youth voices, and
• Our work both advances equity and is welcoming and supporting of all races, classes and gender identities, and
• Our work is accountable and impacts to local communities, neighborhoods and places where young people connect, and
• Our work is not politically-driven and promotes confidence from the caring networks of Baltimore’s young people, and
• Our work inspires new partnerships and new approaches to philanthropy to advance Baltimore’s young people, and
• Our work is focused, expedient, and conducted with urgency.