Opinion: Maryland Gov. Wes Moore: How to improve young men’s mental health
Get the Health newsletter
Daily health & science — research, biotech, public health, the studies worth knowing. Free.
- Maryland Gov. Wes Moore directed his administration in 2025 to implement cross-government solutions for young men, building on the Young Men and Boys Initiative — the state's first such coordinated effort across agencies, sectors, and communities.
- Maryland's male suicide rate is nearly four times the rate for women, while nationwide suicide among young men has climbed more than a third since 2010, Moore writes.
- The Service Year Option has enrolled more than 1,600 Marylanders across all 24 jurisdictions since 2023, offering paid post-graduate service designed to build cross-community bonds.
- The Grow Your Own Educators program issued its first grants in December 2025 from a $19 million fund aimed partly at recruiting and retaining more male teachers — currently just 23% of Maryland's teaching corps.
- The Maryland Youth Digital Wellness Playbook, developed with the Child Mind Institute and Boys and Girls Clubs, is being distributed through more than 80 Boys and Girls Club locations statewide.
- Bipartisan 2024 legislation sustained funding for Maryland's 988 crisis line with targeted advertising in male-skewing spaces such as sporting events.
Why it matters: Maryland's 1,600-service-year enrollment and $19 million teacher-recruitment push are Moore's concrete bet that structured opportunity — not awareness campaigns or stigma-shaming — can reverse a male suicide rate that has climbed more than a third nationally since 2010.
