Samirah Franklin
Neighborhood: West Baltimore
“I would like people to know that being submerged in an environment that is very hard to survive in for long, extended periods of time, like a lifetime, it changes you. You become a different kind of human being and that is very unique to Baltimore. It is not easy to be a Baltimorean. Every day you are faced with a challenge: are you going to be a part of the solution or a part of the problem?”
Samirah Franklin is a lifelong resident of West Baltimore and is a passionate youth advocate. Samirah graduated from the Historic Western High School following the unrest in 2015 and immediately began spearheading efforts to bring about social justice and community engagement. These initiatives include the beautification of her childhood neighborhood by painting murals, building playgrounds, planting community gardens, and, the work that she is most proud of, teaching leadership development to youth. Samirah has spent many hours listening to her community’s most important concerns and has collected stories and evidence of Police Misconduct, thus helping to frame the Consent Decree. She is the former director of The Baltimore Youth Organizing Project, which led a successful campaign to restore millions of needed dollars for after school programming and other initiatives in Baltimore City in 2017.
