The Teen Summer Faceoff, an offshoot of an already-established youth enrichment program, tasked participants with identifying an issue in their area and delivering a technology-driven solution. Eighteen teens divided into six groups were tasked with canvassing a half-dozen communities designated by the county as Transforming Neighborhood Initiative (TNI) regions.
Launched in 2012, the TNI program focuses on uplifting neighborhoods that face significant economic, health, public safety and educational challenges.
While Prince George's County has experienced drops in violent offenses over the last several years, the
"You've got homelessness in these areas, along with gangs and violence," Longs said.
This year's summer youth teams, composed of high school students and college freshmen, studied the difficulties these communities face, an effort that included talking directly with neighborhood leaders and ordinary citizens. Each team was given a mentor from Bowie State University, a nearby historically black college, and six weeks to present their answer before a panel of judges.
The Faceoff project was a continuation of last year’s OIT STEAM Dream Team, which broke 10 students into two teams to find technology-based solutions for issues that confronted Prince George’s County.
"The idea is to engage youth in something meaningful from their first day with the program," Longs said.
The winning project this year was a free-to-download app that allows users to take photographs of abandoned homes and instantly receive all data available on the property, including ownership information. In practice, the "Renovo" app provides those outside the region with a way to locate available housing, as well as place an offending property in the county 311 system for future investigation and repair.
The student group has a Tumblr page with a link to download the app.
High school senior Denver Smith was part of the winning app creation trio assigned to the struggling Kentland and Palmer Park communities. A short drive through the area during the summer revealed 48 vacant homes within a 3-mile radius.
"There's so much blight in these neighborhoods," said Smith, 17. "This was a problem that wasn't being resolved, and we wanted to see how we could help."
Smith's team hit the streets, interviewing elderly residents who decried the decaying state of their communities. With help from a mentoring computer science major, Smith and friends created an app prototype. The collaboration showed Smith the importance of teamwork, as her team had to re-work its panel presentation just days before the program ended.
Over the course of the summer, Smith learned to maximize available resources and work reliably with others, skills that were far from polished prior to the project. "If everyone's on the same page, you'll end up doing something great," she said.
Winning team members each received a Samsung Chromebook, provided by OIT. However, cool electronics are a just minor benefit of the program that has received thousands of applicants over its two-year tenure, said Longs.
Teens with a demonstrated aptitude and interest in IT learn how to write a business plan, speak in public and "dress for success," facets of higher education and any future involvement with the business world, Longs said. Along with the blight-fighting app, team projects included proposals for a community garden and a clearinghouse for donated technology.
"We're grooming these kids to become young professionals," she said. "Many came in undersocialized, and now they're ready to become project managers."
Smith, a track athlete eyeing a major in athletic training and sports management at one of three large universities, is proud to have completed the sometimes mentally grueling program. She looks forward to using her new skills during the next phase of her education.
"The program left its mark on me, in a good way," Smith said. "It's definitely an opportunity that a lot of students my age need to take hold of."
Douglas J. Guth is a Cleveland-based freelance writer and journalist.
