BmoreArt

We work with high schoolers across the city and everything we do is centered around the Dent mindsets. Our first mindset is we see problems as opportunities. When the pandemic hit, there were a lot of problems that became very noticeable to our team and our youth.

We connected with our youth virtually and noticed some of the same challenges existed for them. School wasn’t engaging and was even less productive. Students also felt isolated and wanted to be part of something bigger. Financial constraints became really real, that pressure was acute, and there didn’t seem to be a lot of resources or answers on how to navigate. 

At the beginning of the pandemic, there was a big PPE shortage in our community. A lot of our students told us their family members, who were essential workers, were going without much protection. We see problems as opportunities, so we thought about what we could do. We decided we would address the PPE shortage, but at the same time, youth could earn money. One dollar of each face shield sold goes directly to the Baltimore City high schooler who helped make it. There were several challenges we had to overcome to create and distribute the face shields. We needed a central space for thousands of plastic sheets, elastic, and foam and were really lucky that our partners at the 1100 Wicomico building provided the space for our materials.

Everything we do at Dent is a product of community collaboration. Hack Baltimore built our digital system to track inventory and sales because students were making the face shields at their homes.

We also needed drivers—that was a big challenge. We had to figure out how to get everything from this one site to 70 homes across the city. Volunteers helped and we started paying folks to help us drive, but our Denters came up with another idea. Since we weren’t able to get enough drivers to make this process smooth, our students started delivering materials on cargo bikes.

Another challenge was making sure the units were being made correctly at each home. We created training teams and then youth started training other youth virtually. There were also issues with technology. Some students didn’t have computers or adequate bandwidth. We then partnered with Digital Harbor Foundation and the Digital Equity Coalition to make sure all our youth had laptops. 

Innovation Works built a coalition with medical institutions that were looking for PPE, and they coordinated with us to list our product on their platform to get buyers. Baltimore Development Corporation connected us to an opportunity with Baltimore City and we were able to deliver over 12,000 units to the Baltimore City Office of Emergency Management Services.

Dent started as an idea and a program, and while that is still the core, the most influential and most important part is also the part that brings me the most joy, which is the community we’ve built. The way we engage students is in partnership with so many other people: our staff, coaches, and organizational partners. Our community is excited by the work we’re doing and wants to be a part of it and enable the youth to have more real-world experiences. 

We started with just eight high schoolers and now we’re engaging hundreds of students. They are such a joy to be around, especially with all that is going on in the world. There are so many reasons to feel despair, but I feel so privileged that I get to be around them because they are the hope that I definitely need, and that I think we all need in some ways.

Testimonial by Zhadyn Beckwith, Dent Education Student and Co-owner, as told to Dareise Jones:

I was looking for a summer job last year while participating in MICA’s Pre-College program. Dent Education visited the college and gave a presentation. I signed up and the rest is history. I’m proud of our PPE project. It was exciting because I got the privilege of seeing almost every part of the whole operation.

I started off on the sales team and I learned a lot. I discovered how to get customers, which is something I hadn’t heard much about before this experience. I have my own business now and I’m glad I know how to go out and find customers, rather than just hoping they find me.

I transferred to the operations team, and by that time, I had become a co-owner of the PPE project. I got to see the other side of the process, which was putting together kits for other students to make face shields. I also reviewed their work and gave feedback. Now I’m on the product development team, learning how to come up with new ideas and keep them relevant as time goes on.

It’s inspiring to see a total stranger wearing a face shield you had a role in making. It’s nice knowing that I was a part of the effort to get those out to people. It’s even more inspiring to know we helped firemen and health professionals with our products. I know that I want to be able to use my creativity professionally in the future, and Dent has helped me do that as well as learn how to run a business.

Dent has a marketplace for student entrepreneurs on their website, and the shirts, hoodies, and masks I designed for my first business, Spaghettinaut, are available there. It’s a lot of work, but I am so proud of all I’ve learned and done with Dent Education.

*****

Words by Rajan Patel and Zhadyn Beckwith, story curated by Dareise Jones via Baltimore Small Business Stories

This is the third in a series of profiles created for Made In Baltimore by the Baltimore Small project, an independently produced media platform built to amplify Baltimore’s thriving and diverse small business and nonprofit community.

BmoreArt is excited to partner with Made In Baltimore on the distribution of this new storytelling series featuring tales of grit and resilience from Baltimore’s maker community. As our economy churns back to life over the next several months, BmoreArt and Made in Baltimore will be sharing these stories to inspire and remind readers about the importance of supporting creative entrepreneurs. 

To learn more about Dent Education, visit denteducation.org

To see more stories and learn how to support other local small businesses, visit madeinbaltimore.org

Made In Baltimore is a program of the Baltimore Development Corporation

Header image: Youth participants, known as “Denters,” who helped build face shields. From left to right: Lucas Lee, Zhadyn Beckwith, Assi Sy (standing), Oluwasefunmi Oluwafemi, Joshua Chiosi. All photography by Jonathan Bregel for Baltimore Small Business Stories.