#EveryStoryCounts – Sabriyah Hassan

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“I was a school teacher and my kids never wanted to leave. They wanted to come on evenings, weekends. Pretty soon we realized what was going on — they had no resources, no activities, nothing meaningful to do when they went home.

That’s how Team Triumphant came about. We wanted to create a “world of champions” by connecting youth to things they’ve never done before. Everybody wants to be a basketball player or football player. Nine times out of ten you’re not going to make it so let’s expose you to things that’ll make you stand out. Fencing — we got the students from here in the city lessons; they were able to travel, participate in competitions. That definitely stood out … people aren’t used to seeing African Americans fence! Through a partnership with the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice we just wrapped up a DJ and hip-hop program that ran in McElderry Park. The students were able to work with real equipment. We’ve even been able to get them paid gigs throughout the city. Some of these youth won’t show up for school but they showed up every Thursday at the park for the DJ program. We recently launched a similar program at Forest Park High School with the Y of Central Maryland.

There’s so much more we could do. I think a small city like Baltimore is all about connections and a lot of us are doing the same work but we’re not connecting. Especially when it comes to youth work. We need to teach and reach each other similar to how we are trying to teach and reach these kids!”

— Sabriyah (and her son, Jibril) for #EveryStoryCounts. (Photo by New Lens Productions).

Sabriyah Hassan is President & Founder of Team Triumphant, IncFind out more about programs and resources you can work with to help empower youth in Baltimore City


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.