By Ian Jett
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer
Eight months after demonstrators rocked Baltimore with pleas to end police brutality and other forms of institutionalized racism, City Council member Brandon Scott is calling on citizens to get more involved in their communities as a way to make the city a better place to live.
Scott, whose appeals for leadership from City Hall has sparked speculation over whether he would run for mayor in 2016, has been a long-time advocate of mentoring as a way to help young people stay out of trouble and grow as human beings.
“What I want to achieve is having a better Baltimore,” he said. “But with that specifically, I want every young man and young women in the city of Baltimore who asks for a caring adult that is not related to them, to have that.”
Scott said mentoring changes the life of a young person but can also change the life of an adult as well. One way Scott said the city can become better is if regular people become involved in the community.
Scott said he has always wanted to help Baltimore for as long as he can remember but is now taking more steps in trying to assist in more than one way.
“Serving Baltimore is the only thing I wanted to do since I was a kid,” the 30-year-old Baltimore native said. “I always figured that if I wanted my neighborhood and city to be a better place then who would do it better than [me].”
Scott grew up in the Park Heights neighborhood in the 1980s and 1990s when Baltimore was a violent city. Even during his college days, Scott always stayed connected to Baltimore.
Crime and violence are two issues that have motivated Scott to help city youth. Scott and local activist Munir Bahar started the group 300 Men March in 2013 and have steadily seen it grow. Bahar, who also grew up in Baltimore, is the director of COR Community, a group that works with schools and community organizations to help inner city youth.
“It’s an organization that is just strictly dedicated to stopping the violence in our community,” Scott said. “The first march started with 300 men but got 600 to march from West to East Baltimore and back and from that we’re hoping to have 10 groups of 30 men who can deploy from our street engagement units to the most violent neighborhoods.”
According to Scott, the groups go out on Friday nights in the summer and preach the message that residents of those neighborhoods must stop killing each other. Scott said when men are engaged in the community a lot of the violence does not happen. The group pays members of a “300 youth core” to do the same thing, but it also trains them in leadership and in violence interruption.
Scott said the reaction the group gets from members of the community is always positive.
“They love it, 300 gets love from everybody,” he said. “No one seems to have a negative feeling toward 300 Man March.”
Scott’s fellow council members have taken notice of what he has done in office since he was elected.
“He definitely has a passion for helping the youth in the city,” said Lester Davis, a spokesperson for Jack Young, who is the president of the council. “He’s really hit the ground running in trying to get legislation passed in order to help the city’s youth. He’s a hard worker. He takes his responsibility seriously and cares a lot about the people in his district.”
Scott said the city cannot afford to fight violence with only one solution. Scott said it is unproductive to think in terms of one solution for fixing the city’s problems.
“Education is a top priority for me but at the same time, it’s not the only thing I’m focused on,” he said. “I’m always focused on trying to figure out how to provide better options for the young people, provide a better educational environment, but I have to worry about public safety, job creation, and trash and crime.”
Scott used to work at the Big Brothers Big Sisters organization in Maryland – and he has continued to be active in the group.
“I’m an advocate for them,” Scott said. “We’re just finishing up the Bmore Be BIG campaign where we’re trying to get more men to mentor more young men in the city.”
Scott said thousands of people said during last spring’s uprisings that they wanted to help. Many of them, Scott said, have yet to do so. By doing this campaign, Scott hopes to get more men involved to create a positive situation for troubled youth.
“If we truly want to change the lives of these young people, especially the young men, we’re going to need men to step up and be involved in their lives,” Scott said.
“Some people are going to see it through social media or hear it through the grapevine,” he continued. “Some people you are going to have to follow up with them or call them.”
Scott said methods of public shaming will be successful.
“I’ve been saying before April, if you’re an adult male that lives in Baltimore and the surrounding areas who says they want to help Baltimore and they are not doing something every day to help a young person, then you have lost your right to call yourself a man,” Scott said. “You cannot just continue to go home, go to happy hour, live your life, go to work and go home and continue to live your life where you know so many young people are out crying.”
According to Scott, trying to get the word out to members of the community differs for every person.
“Social media works for the people that social media works for,” he said. “You have to come at it on all angles. You can’t leave anything unturned.”