Towanda Carter
Neighborhood: South East Clifton Park
“In Baltimore we live with blinders on; people can only see what’s in front of them. They can’t see that there’s so much around them and so much beauty. [If] they don’t experience it, they don’t see it.”
Towanda Carter grew up on Sinclair Lane and graduated with a GED in 1986. While working in the Human Services field she noticed the need for community support and went on to graduating from BCCC Liberty Campus with an Associate’s Degree in Human Services.
in 2019 Towanda became the President of The New South Clifton Park Community Association. She understood the community’s need for mental health services in the forgotten blocks of her neighborhoods, and transitioned from her college education to Own the WEL Foundation, an outpatient mental health and substance use disorder program. As of 2023, Towanda is one of the founders of The Social Butterflies, a non-collegiate group that focuses on assisting young girls in the inner city and Baltimore school system with daily living skills and life skills as a guided tool. The first school she was able to service was Harlem Park Elementary School. Towanda has volunteered in community events, assisted youth and adults with daily living skills, and provided community resources along with mental health services.
Since 2023, Towanda is the founder of The WEL Foundation, adding a sober living component through housing for men who have struggled with substance addiction and needed a second chance in life without the stressors of not having a support system to navigate transitioning back into the community. Towanda is purchasing a larger space to provide community support and resources with a housing component.
Towanda, single mother of inner city youth, determined to be a voice — not a statistic. She quotes, “ ‘The weight of a word is measured by the feelings it provokes, while the weight of success is measured by the change it provokes’ — The most prolific truism, within its simplicity, has always intrigued me. If I knew then what I know now, what I know now has no room for ifs”. Her final words would be this — make sure the period you place is at the end of the sentence and not the paragraph of your life.
