Safe Alternative Foundation for Education

The safe space that SAFE Center provided today really shined bright. It was wild to see how quickly our young people were ready to scrap an activity they have never once even tried. And guess what fear was preventing them from an enriching experience… good ol’ peer pressure, you guessed it. But what they quickly realized is that the choices they make can be their own, and the fears of impending Monday judgment at school, is just a fear nothing more nothing less. After 5 min. of being uncomfortable, mixed with 5 min of having to be brave, they were flying those kites as high, happy and free as all young people should be allowed to. And the real kicker was…. you know who came over to join em 👀 yup, they’re friends. Who also just happened to be expert kite flyers 😑 who had never flown a kite before 🤣.

The look and attitude of I did what I wanted despite what my peers think is quite possibly the antithesis of being in Middle School. And we love that for them. Have a great weekend, and stay fly, always! 👊🏾😎

Our last day at at Career Academy was a huge success! The way our students gravitated more towards our construction workshops was a real eye opener. It helped that we had excellent industry professionals to see us through. As this summer approaches we look forward to having some of these students back with us for our intensive Career Technical Exploration camp starting June 24th.

Message us for more info on that if you know someone 18-24 interested in exploring the construction trades.

A career in construction as a women, is definitely a road less traveled, but all of us here at SAFE, and probably you as well, think that the amount of women in this industry should be greater than 11%.

In our construction technical exploration program, our ladies at Career Academy, make up a third of our class!

We are passionate about providing programming that will give young women a glimpse into the vast amount of rewarding careers inside the construction industry. A key piece is making connections between an idea, and a real experience.

If you are a women/know of any women within any position in the construction industry, we invite you to reach out to us. We’d love to share these experiences with all of our students. Thanks in advance!

As you may or may not know, at SAFE we’ve been figuring out how to make our neighborhood safer and more accessible for our neighbors who have a disability. As future leaders in this city our scholars need to gain as much perspective as possible about the issues that different people face everyday. With the hopes of them finding solutions and/or advocating for rights. At the end of today’s program our students found out just how hard it is to navigate two blocks in city not created with the visually and physically impaired in mind.

It’s Earth Day at SAFE! An additional thing we do here at SAFE is to provide our CTE (Construction Technical Exploration) programming at Career Academy. In honor of the day we made planter boxes. Thanks to the hard work of the students at the Academy, now all our kids at the center have to do is fill them with soil and plants🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾 Teamwork makes that dream work, Amen?!?! All in all, it’s a great day to be on Earth 😎. 🌍🌏 ***This post was made in partnership with Earth.***

All of our young woman at SAFE are regularly out here breaking all types of gender norms and that makes us quite proud. Exposing our young people to the same line of work as their male peers will encourage them and others to break into male dominated fields. Which hopefully, will further close the pay gap woman currently experience across all industries. Give our young ladies a word of encouragement or shoot us a message something inspiring you know?! Thanks in advance 🙌🏾😉💪🏾💅🏾🛠️🪚🧰

Our S.A.F.E. scholars took a mid-week visit to our good friends & mentors at Loyola HS. We watched the schools baseball team do their thing, and honestly it felt like a super, chill, well deserved break. Our scholars also had the opportunity to go up into the skybox and get a first hand look at how the real MVP of every game does her thing. S/o to Suzy.

This past weekend the SAFE kids, in partnership with the Cal Ripken Foundation, took a college tour of American University, in D.C. The kids had the opportunity to meet some very important people and be exposed to a glimpse of what college life is like, and what is expected of them. Our scholars were able to meet with the President of the University, who was in fact the first Female President of that institution. 😎We also met some pretty high-achievers who PATIENTLY answered EVERY 🫤 question that popped into our scholars heads. 🙌🏾 Two of our students actually networked with the D1 shooting guard, basketball player Adam Holod, who is just the nicest person and gave us an A1 tour. S/o to our science bio major/ speaker Trevon with dreds, he was the perfect ambassador for And getting back to Baltimore by 3pm on a beautiful day was the icing on the cake. And a s/o to Danielle Koon in the office of DEI, the passion she spoke with was infectious. Summers off to a great start wouldn’t you say.?!?! 🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾

For almost a decade, SAFE center has been woodworking and crafting with one of our partners. The amazing creations we have been able to consistently kick out year after year has been incredible to witness. Our, patient and generous, expert craftsman Chris, Jessica, Charles, and J are definitely teachers at heart. (In the photos)We had Damiko on the wood lathe making wine glasses w/stems, on the miter saw, Hakeem was making a wood slab bench, Dillon on the router building a lazy susan, and Tyler & Devon sewing up stuffed bunnies, everybody had their hands full! Our woodworking partnership has definitely become a staple program here at SAFE center and one of our most rewarding. If your company or you would like to partner with us in some capacity please shoot us a message, email, or volunteer on our site. We are always trying to connect with inspiring individuals who relate to the culture, and have mastered their craft.

As the summer approaches, along with our 6 week summer camp, I wanted to share what we were doing those 8 long years ago. Sailing, university visits, CPR training, to name a few. And that was then, what we have planned for this summer is just 🍌🍌🍌’s, and we can’t wait to share with you all of our excursions. 😁😁😁 I think I speak for all of us when I say we are very proud of what is building here at the foundation and the young lives he’s impacting. Peace & ❤️.

Today at we took a stroll around our community of Franklin Square and took note of ways in which the current infrastructure does not support our disabled community. The students brainstormed solutions to each problem identified, in hopes of better serving those with physical, sensory, emotional, and intellectual disabilities. We were very surprised at what the students caught, and equally as surprised as to what they missed. As always, we are very proud and excited for the change-makers we’ve been able to pour into 😁😁🤩. Next steps… we have some letters to write 👀 stay tuned friends 😳😬😉. Lastly, let the kids know what type of tone they should take in their letters and we’ll let them know what you think!

Today at the SAFE center we embraced our crafty side and whipped up our own eclipse viewing box. One of our students brought some official glasses and everyone was able to witness the spectacle one way or another. S/O to our newest team member for the great shots!