Weaver Awards
Baltimore 2024
in partnership with 
$5000 Grants for the Neighbors Connecting Baltimore
Some people weave their communities together. They are the ones we all trust, the people we count on to get things done and to see the best in everyone. We call them weavers.
Here’s our chance to recognize and celebrate our weaver neighbors in Baltimore. Are you spreading care and building trust in Baltimore City – or do you know someone like that? You’ve landed in the right place.
Applications close in:
Who is Eligible?
We all know people who show up, again and again, to do the hard work of listening and connecting us. They often don’t have big titles or get government grants. They do what they do because they care about weaving together their communities.
Some help kids or the elderly. Some make sure everyone has a holiday meal. Some organize community gardens or job training. Many are not part of a nonprofit organization or business. You can see some prior awardees here.
This year, a group of Baltimoreans will choose twenty weavers to receive $5,000 each. To be considered, you need to:
- Be 18 or older
- Live and serve in Baltimore City
- Have a project that helps connect neighbors
- Work with neighbors or in a small organization
Why Have Weaver Awards?
We all know neighbors who show up, again and again, to make our community better. They seem to know everyone. They inspire us to support each other. They see a need and fill it. They often don’t have big titles or receive grants for their work. We count on them and yet we rarely celebrate how important they are to us.
The Baltimore Weaver Awards celebrate and publicly recognize them so we all can learn and be inspired by their work. Each receives $5000 to advance their projects that weave a tighter community. A group of Baltimore neighbors will review applications and recommendations and select 20 Awardees to receive this recognition.
The Aspen Institute in Washington, DC and M&T Bank created the Weaver Awards to honor neighbors who are serving their communities and creating emotional connection, lasting relationships, and a strong, inclusive social fabric. These weavers are showing us the way to heal the divides in our country and help us build trust in each other from the ground up.
Meet Past Awardees
Past Awardees come from across Baltimore and are connecting and supporting their neighborhoods in a huge range of ways. Some organize clean-ups, others help struggling youth, some plan prayer walks and cookouts, while still others start parent or teach groups. All help neighbors build a sense of belonging, mutual support, and pride in their community. Many Awardees have appeared in local papers or on radio and TV.
Who Decides?
A local advisory group, made up mainly of Baltimore community advocates, chooses the Awardees. These are people who know the spirit of the community and its neighborhoods. They care about weaving a strong, inclusive social fabric and they know what it takes.
Tiny Adams
Leader Breeders
Lacey Benton
Community Advocate
Victoria Brathwaite
Thread
Monique Bess
Blkboxx Radio
Shannon Hayes
Baltimore City Public Schools
Lucia Islas
Comite De Latino
Jim Peterson
M&T Bank
Eddie Resende
World Trade Center Institute
Chris Wack
Baltimore Ravens
Nikki Stokes
Romans Room
Anna Tatro
West Baltimore Renaissance Foundation
Jennifer West
Plant Mama Alchemy
Shaleece Williams
The Tree House Project
Shaden Dowiatt
Weave
Kristyn Feldman
Weave
Wynisha Witt
Weave
If you have questions about the Awards, want to partner, or have issues using this website, let us know. If you want to learn more about weavers across the US, visit weavers.org
Get Involved as a Weaver
Join with others who care about building trust and community in Baltimore by participating in the Weave Baltimore online group. You’ll meet other weavers, be invited to gatherings, get updates on the Weaver Awards, and find resources, partners, and opportunities to learn weaving skills. You’ll join with neighbors and also meet weavers from communities across the country. It takes just a few minutes to register and become connected to a wealth of people, stories, and resources.
FAQs
Those who receive the Awards will get $5,000 grants for their work building community relationships to help students succeed. They will be honored at a Baltimore Weaver Awards community celebration on November 23, 2024. They will access support, resources, and skills training as part of an online group of people who are weaving a strong Baltimore in many ways. We’ll also work with media groups to have your weaving story shared so you can inspire others to join the people weaving a strong Baltimore.
The Weaver Awards are about weaving a strong, inclusive social fabric where we live. The Awards support projects that create relationships and build trust among neighbors. If your project inspires neighbors to work together to make your neighborhood stronger in some way, then you should apply. Prior projects have included creating a community garden, park, or gathering place, setting up mentoring programs for students or job skill programs for adults, holding BBQ’s to help neighbors get to know each other, supporting new parents or engaging community elders, teaching leadership or STEM skills, or cleaning up the neighborhood.
The awards are for individuals and small groups doing trust-building work. They aren’t intended to support an organization, though people who work for an organization can apply as long as their organization has a budget under $250,000. To get an award, you have to live and work in Baltimore City and be 18 or older.
Very little paperwork is involved. The application is online and can be done in as little as 20 minutes. Then, you will ask at least one community member to fill out a recommendation form (just 5-10 minutes long) for you, showing that you are known and involved in your community. You will say how you intend to use the award, but you don’t need a formal budget. And when you get an award, you don’t have reports to file. You check in every two months with someone on the staff of the Aspen Institute’s Weave project who is there to help you remove obstacles and succeed.
No. Any person or group can get the award. You don’t have to be a formal organization. Weaver Awards are meant for those who typically don’t have the time, experience, or resources to apply for more traditional grants.
Anyone who applies or is just interested, can join the Weave Baltimore online community, where they get invitations to gatherings, support from others weavers, and learn about other resources and grants that may be available. Join now, even before you apply, at: community.weavers.org/g/weave-baltimore
Completed applications with recommendations have to be submitted by September 30, 2024 through the Weaver Awards website. You can apply or recommend someone at apply.awards.weavers.org
Absolutely! The person you are recommending has to fill out the application form, and they can do it after you recommend them. When someone is recommended, we contact then and encourage them to fill out their part of the application.
Send an email to weaverawards@aspeninstitute.org and we’ll respond as soon as possible.
A group of Baltimore community advisors will review and select individuals or groups to receive the Weaver Awards. In the meantime, join our online Weave Community and its Weave Baltimore local group to stay connected, get invited to Weaver Awards events, hear about other funding opportunities and meet weavers in Baltimore like you.
Contact Weave at weaverawards@aspeninstitute.org and we’ll be happy to answer them!
Contact Us
If you have questions about the Awards, want to partner, or have issues using this website, let us know. If you want to learn more about weavers across the US, visit weavers.org