Baltimore students finally ate, ending a five-day hunger strike to demand an additional $3 million for student mentoring programs.
Students with Peer-to-Peer Youth Enterprises, a coalition of more than 20 mentioning programs, met Wednesday night in a closed session with Mayor Sheila Dixon.
The meeting came a day after the students halted their protest after five days? fasting, rallying and camping outside City Hall in an attempt to force Dixon to provide the moneyfor about 1,000 tutors.
Dixon urged the students to find alternative funding, such as private donations, which she would consider matching, said Ian Brennan, a spokesman for the mayor.
“We don?t have any specific opposition,” he said. “We just don?t have the money. We?ve never funded it at that level.”
Dixon has pointed to $14 million already allocated for youth-based programs in next year?s budget. Peer-to-Peer programs received $780,000 from the city and $2.1 million from the school system this year, Brennan said.
“They can?t question my commitment to young people,” Dixon said.
Chris Goodman, a 19-year-old sophomore at Morgan State University, said some students lost up to 15 pounds during the hunger strike, in which students subsisted on water and fruit drinks.
They stopped the strike as a “gesture of good will” and because they were worried about their health, Goodman said.
“We?re ready to meet with the mayor to compromise and negotiate so it?s a win-win for both of us,” he said.
The City Council recently voted against a plan to fund the program through its “rainy-day fund,” Goodman said.
“We feel the plight of young people in Baltimore City is an emergency, and the rainy day fund can help that emergency,” he said.
The tutors would serve 6,000 students and get paid $10 to $15 per hour, the group said.
City schools chief Andres Alonso planned to let principals at each school decide whether to keep the programs next year.
The student protesters canceled a press conference after the private meeting with Dixon, Goodman said.
“It wouldn?t be the best strategic move to apply that much pressure to the mayor,” he said.
