Training youth through service
For Civic Works director, projects build habits, address local issues
As a youth, Dana Stein spent summers working varous jobs — cashier, busboy and typist.
“What it taught me was the importance of showing up on time and working with others,” he said.
Today as executive director and founder of the Baltimore nonprofit Civic Works, he said he tries to convey those skills and others to area youths.
The organization works with several hundred young people every year in mainly service projects, such as building low-income housing, improving seniors’ homes or growing produce at a local farm, Stein said.
“Young people want to have the opportunity to make a difference in communities, to improve the lives of neighbors as well as improve their own skills,” he said. “So if you can create an opportunity where they can do both — both give back and improve their own skills — young people are excited to do that.”
Because youths are completing projects in their own communities, they get to see the impact they make. “The satisfaction that comes from being able to see the tangible outcome of one’s work is great,” he said.
Civic Works opened its doors in 1993. Since then, Stein has developed a taste for politics. He’s a member of the Maryland House of Delegates, representing District 11 in Baltimore County.
He thinks the best way to address broader issues is through legislation.
“Working at Civic Works allowed me to see that some of the challenges that communities face are systemic in nature,” he said, such as education, health care and housing.
Through Civic Work’s YouthBuild program, Stein hopes to solve one of those problems by producing tiny homes. Last year, the group built a 200-square-foot tiny-house prototype. Now, the organization rents warehouse space at in Remington, aiming to ramp up construction.
Stein said he sees opportunity to provide workforce training. Participants learn all the aspects of building a house — even if it’s a small one.
Dana Stein