FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 24, 2023

U.S. Senators Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen Announce $3 Million in Federal Investments to Expand Career Training & Programming at New Dirt Bike Campus in Baltimore

Funds will be used to support B-360’s efforts to build the nation’s first dirt bike campus, reduce recidivism, and grow educational programming for youth and young adults.

BALTIMORE, MD -- B-360 was joined by Senator Ben Cardin, Senator Chris Van Hollen, the Administration of Governor Wes More, the Office of Mayor Brandon Scott, and other local leaders to announce a total of $3 Million  for the nation’s first dirt bike campus – a safe place to ride off of City streets – and to expand STEM programs that utilize dirt bikes to get youth and young adults interested in engineering and other related career paths. B-360 is looking to raise $10.5 million total for the campus to be located in Baltimore.

B-360 is a Baltimore-based organization that focuses on bridging the systemic opportunity gap, combating mass incarceration, and confronting the criminalized narratives around dirt bike culture and non-violent offenders. Their work uses dirt bike culture to uplift learning in STEM for the city’s youth and works to bring economic and employment opportunities to riders. Since its founding, B-360 has helped decrease Baltimore’s dirt-bike arrests by 80%, employed dozens of former street riders, and helped to advance a 45% increase in student test scores amongst their participants.

B-360’s STEM Programming and Educational Campus will be receiving a total of $3,000,000 total in federal funding to support the organization’s goal of building the nation’s first dirt bike campus to increase access to STEM-related learning and establishing a safe, permanent location for Baltimore’s youth and young adults to ride their dirt bikes while enrolled in educational courses.

“B-360 Day really celebrates and highlights our young people, and more importantly it also celebrates and highlights the work that’s being done in Baltimore. What this award will help us do is be able to build the first-ever dirt bike campus in the country,” said Brittany Young, founder of B-360. “What we hope is that this is not just a seed in B-360, but it is a seed in Baltimore city, and also a seed for Black-led organizations everyday doing the work in disrupting prison pipelines.”

“Why did we think this was an important investment in B-360? It’s because of the vision that you had, which is this innovative idea of taking the passion so many young people have for dirt biking and using that to channel them into a passion for learning about the bike itself. Bikes may look simple, but these are complicated machines, and when you learn about the bike, you’re learning about mechanics, you’re learning about design, you’re learning about 3-D printing, you’re learning about physics — it is a great window into learning about lots of skills that can be put to really good use in our community,” said Senator Chris Van Hollen.

“These funds will give B-360 the capacity to really reach out and meet children where they are to help them with their career development. They’re getting together not just to enjoy riding bikes, but also to learn the skills necessary to succeed in the future. It’s important for each one of you to learn these skills for our community to be able to grow and have the economic future that we need,” said Senator Ben Cardin.

“B-360 means everything to me. I’ve only been with them for two years, and my life changed so much. I don’t know where I’d be right now if it wasn’t for Ms. Young giving me the opportunity, seeing something in me that nobody else saw. One of my dreams since I joined B-360 was always to have a home. We have a family, but we don’t have a home — a place where everyone can ride,” said Tristan Tremble (16), B-360 junior instructor.

“It’s my firm belief that the more time kids spend doing good, the less time they’re going to spend doing harm. It’s what we in the juvenile justice field call ‘positive youth development,’ which is just a fancy way of saying that when you focus on building young people’s strengths, you do better than just focusing on eliminating their deficits. B-360 is a great example of that,” said Vincent Sehiraldi, secretary of the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services.

“When you take the time to hear the dreams of a young person and to pick them out as having something special in them that they don’t even see in themselves, you bring the capacity to change not just their life and that of their family, but of the world. When you invest in our children, you invest in Baltimore, and Baltimore is on the rise — the young men and the young women that I spoke to affirm that,” said Dana Moore, Chief Equity Officer for the City of Baltimore.

“We believe that if we lead with love and couple that with diverse experiences — much like riding dirt bikes and then explaining how that correlates to STEM — what we’re giving is a bigger and wider future for kids to aim for, which makes going to school and learning things make more sense. If we don’t give a ‘why’ to education, then we know that kids struggle,” said Danielle and Michael Battle, the founders of Restoring Inner City Hope, an organization dedicated to improving the lives of youth in Cherry Hill through immersive summer and after school programming.

If you are interested in connecting with B-360 for interviews, please contact Cassandra West at cwest@westendstrategy.com or (202) 374-5393.

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B-360 utilizes dirt bike culture to end the cycle of poverty, disrupt the prison pipeline, and build bridges in communities. Through STEM education, community engagement, career preparation, and events, we equip youth and young adults with the skills to secure educational and career opportunities, while changing the negative perception of dirt bike riders. We repair and build relationships in the community, uncover new and unique career opportunities, provide and enhance career skills, bridge the STEM gap, and create events that unite communities in a safe and fun way. For more information visit https://b360baltimore.org/.

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