Take Back Our Streets (TBOS), an Anne Arundel County-based nonprofit that offers assistance and encouragement to at-risk youth, recently raised $8,000 during an event at Pasadena’s Two Rivers Restaurant.
TBOS was founded by the late Sen. Mike Wagner in 1992. The function of the organization is to provide support and financial assistance to community organizations and programs that work for the betterment of youth and their families.
The nonprofit worked collaboratively with the Anne Arundel County Police Department until 2003, when the Anne Arundel County Youth Activities Program, which was instrumental in developing a respect for police work and rapport with the youth of local communities, was disbanded. TBOS has worked under its own auspices since.
The organization’s mission is to create proactive community involvement, thus helping to minimize the negative influences of society. TBOS organizes fundraisers and community-support initiatives that promote educational and motivational alternatives to drug and criminal activity while raising the self-esteem of the county’s youth.
“Our fund — and all of the money we collect, is funneled back to the kids — provides backpacks and tennis shoes for kids who are heading back to school, as well as Christmas presents via the Abundant Life Church on Furnace Branch Road [in Glen Burnie] and Pastor Nate Drye,” said spokesperson Mike Wagner, Jr. “We also collect toys from the local Ravens Roost for at least 1,000 kids.”
For more information, visit www.takebackourstreets.com.