Skip to Content List

  • Skip to primary content
  • Skip to footer content

Site Navigation Lists

  • Fellowship Application
  • Grantmaking Process
  • Contact Us
  • Donate
  • About
    • Mission and Vision
    • Staff
    • Board
    • Leadership Council
    • Impact Reports
    • Impact Photo Series
  • Programs and Impact
    • Our Programs and Impact
    • Education and Youth Development
    • Criminal and Juvenile Justice
    • Addiction and Health Equity
    • Community Fellowships
  • Grantees and Fellows
    • Grantee Database
    • Grantmaking Process
    • Community Fellows
    • How to Apply
  • News and Reports
    • Baltimore Justice Report
    • Newsletters
    • Reports
    • Impact Reports
    • Blueprint for Baltimore
    • OSI in the News
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Past Events
    • 20th Anniversary Speaker Series
    • Talking About Race Series
    • Talking About Addiction Series
  • Privacy
  • Cookie Policy
  • Community Guidelines
  • Terms & Conditions
Open Society Institute – Baltimore

Open Society Institute – Baltimore

Open Society Institute (OSI) – Baltimore : Audacious Thinking For Lasting Change

  • Fellowship Application
  • Grantmaking Process
  • Contact Us
  • Donate
  • EN
    • EN
    • ES
  • About
    • Mission and Vision
    • Staff
    • Board
    • Leadership Council
    • Impact Reports
    • Impact Photo Series
  • Programs and Impact
    • Our Programs and Impact
    • Education and Youth Development
    • Criminal and Juvenile Justice
    • Addiction and Health Equity
    • Community Fellowships
  • Grantees and Fellows
    • Grantee Database
    • Grantmaking Process
    • Community Fellows
    • How to Apply
  • News and Reports
    • Baltimore Justice Report
    • Newsletters
    • Reports
    • Impact Reports
    • Blueprint for Baltimore
    • OSI in the News
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Past Events
    • 20th Anniversary Speaker Series
    • Talking About Race Series
    • Talking About Addiction Series
Imagining a safe passage

Featured in
Education and Youth

Next Article
Putting kids first in child support

Education and Youth

Imagining a safe passage

Content Social Share Links

  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter

I propose a simple, but powerful, way for Baltimoreans to support the city’s youth and schools.  It won’t cost a lot of money, or take a lot of time. It doesn’t require the overhaul of a bureaucracy.  But it would help kids get safely to the safest place for them in the city: their school.

What I am suggesting is that we make a Safe Passage Pledge to Baltimore’s school children. There are constant reminders in the news that city neighborhoods are too dangerous for children to pass through on their way to and from school. They are so unsafe that some children resort to carrying weapons for protection – and often are suspended or arrested for their efforts at self-defense. Others stay home out of fear and a desire to survive.

But we can change that.

What if the city’s adults went to their porches, stoops, front doors and windows to support children on their way to school every morning and to their homes every afternoon?  Think how much safer and more nurtured our children and youth would be if there were just a few adults on each block who smiled at them, said good morning, told them to hurry up, and wished them a good day.

Mayor Dixon, may I be so bold as to suggest that this initiative has your name all over it? And at the top of my list for candidates to enlist are the many city churches and their congregations who want to live their faith and build their communities. I would also like to ask local radio and TV stations to call out an eight a.m. reminder to get a cup of coffee and head out to the street and a three o’clock nudge to welcome the kids home.

I think the presence of community members alone would reduce violence, truancy and children’s fears, but the effort would be improved by a Safe Passage Hotline. With it, we can give neighbors a way to get help when busses pass children by without picking them up, or when children are still on the street after school starts.

Baltimoreans, help me improve on this idea with your comments and suggestions – let’s find a way to address the most basic need our kids have – to be safe.

Related Content

The principal is key

Nothing is more important to the near and long-term future of Baltimore than the quality of its public schools.  Having stron…

Read More

Post navigation

Previous Article Previous The city and the neighborhood as school
Next Article Next Article Getting the data on health
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • Youtube

Subscribe to our mailing list

OSI Logo

Open Society Institute-Baltimore
Bold Thinking, Strategic Action, Justice for All.

Quick donate

© 2023 Open Society Institute-Baltimore
  • Privacy
  • Cookie Policy
  • Community Guidelines
  • Terms & Conditions
Skip to top of page