PROGRAM
Central Baltimore Weaver Awards
Applications are open June 15, 2026 - August 31, 2026
What are the Weaver Awards?
The Central Baltimore Weaver Awards are a public recognition and celebration of the efforts neighbors and supporters in our communities are making to develop stronger connection with and between each other.
What is Weaving?
Weaving is the practice of building meaningful relationships that set the conditions for social trust to grow in communities. It begins with a simple commitment: to see one another as equal in dignity, even when experiences and viewpoints differ.
Looking for good examples of Weaving?
Check out some examples.
Weaving invites people to:
Discover what they have in common
Learn how their differences can make the community stronger
Work side by side toward common good
Weaving can be formal or informal, characterized by four qualities:
Local: It brings together people who share the same neighborhood, town, or region
Mutual: It celebrates everyone’s contributions and creates opportunities for everyone to both give and receive
Welcoming: It invites people to join as they are
Continuous: It builds relationships that deepen over time through ongoing engagement
Why are we launching the Weaver Awards in Central Baltimore?
Baltimore City and many other cities around the country are struggling with a breakdown in social trust- with institutions, with the business world, and sometimes even with their neighbors.
Social trust is cultivated through relationships and connection. In times like this, we need to support those community leaders that are making connections, combatting the darkness and leading with heart, and spreading joy by leaning into each other in a hyperlocal way.
The Weaver Awards offer rare support for the community capacity building and organizing that is essential to thriving, equitable, sustainable neighborhoods.
What will you get if you become a Weaver Awardee?
CBP will award 20 Weavers annually:
Level 1 (5 awards):
Financial award: $5,000
Professional headshot and social media post
Utilize meeting space in Central Baltimore for at least one event at no cost to the Weaver
Level 2 (15 awards):
Financial award: $2,500
Professional headshot and social media post
Utilize meeting space in Central Baltimore for at least one event at no cost to the Weaver
All Weavers will receive the following:
Access to an online national network of local leaders called Weave Us
Access to public speaking support through the Weavers Speakers Bureau, upon request
Community resource connections in Central Baltimore
CBP will also facilitate quarterly events for and with Weavers including:
A networking event
A professional development workshop
A hands on capacity building opportunity
A cohort celebration or event of choice
Who is eligible?
For someone to be considered for an Award they need to:
Be 18 or older
Live, work, attend, serve, and/or connect in any of our eleven Central Baltimore Partnership neighborhoods
Have a project that helps connect neighbors and fosters relationships between them
The project is open to anyone in the community
The project addresses a shared need in the community
If the project is part of an organization, the organization must have an annual budget below $250,000
Have a community recommendation from a community member who lives, works, attends, serves, and/or connects in the area you serve.
Learn more:
awards.weavers.org/en/centralbaltimore/2026
Ready to apply?
About Weave: The Social Fabric Project
Weave: The Social Fabric Project is an initiative of the Aspen Institute dedicated to strengthening trust, connection, and belonging in communities across the United States.
Weave supports everyday weavers—neighbors who show up for others, bridge divides, and build community.
Through storytelling, online learning, community-building programs, and the Weaver Awards, Weave works to repair America’s social fabric from the ground up and lift up the people who are already leading this work in their neighborhoods.
Have questions? Reach out!
Micah Mathis, Community Partnerships Coordinator
weaverprogram@centralbaltimore.org (410) 702-5193