• Hire an Innovation Community Manager for Baltimore

    Baltimore is experiencing a renaissance of ideas and entrepreneurship driven from the bottom-up; with a little support from the top-down, this renaissance has the potential to transform our economy. I challenge Baltimore’s economic development organizations to invest in this promising trend by sponsoring a new “Innovation Community Manager” staff position charged with supporting the community […]

  • Using what works in education

    Baltimore City Schools have struggled for years to raise student achievement. There have been multiple strategies, any number of new textbooks and instructional approaches, and lots and lots of money invested in attempts to move students toward proficiency, particularly in math and reading. Though recently students have been achieving at higher levels, city students are […]

  • Get it TOGETHER

    At any given moment, countless Baltimore youth are facing harsh realities accompanied by fading dreams. Since coming to this city, I have had many conversations. They have included everyone from the young man being raised by a single mom, now a dad himself to the young lady seeking approval from a “too busy mom” to […]

  • Bringing poetry to life to make confident readers

    Last April, the 7th grade writing workshop I teach at Margaret Brent Elementary/Middle School studied an Edna St. Vincent Millay poem. Today, the group struts around the school, reciting lines from the poem: “We were very tired, we were very merry–, We had gone back and forth all night on the ferry.” Writers in Baltimore […]

  • Supporting foster care youth

    May is Foster Care month. It is our hope that during this month, as a community we will be thinking of innovative ways to give our foster youth the tools they need to become contributing and successful members of society. The difficult issues that youth transitioning from the foster care system face is something we […]