During his visit to Baltimore yesterday, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced a gift of $5 million to the Open Society Institute-Baltimore for its Accelerated Pathways Initiative. This five-year initiative will create rigorous, supportive and accelerated high school options in Baltimore that will significantly increase graduation rates and post-secondary success, particularly for the city’s African-American male students.
“Mayor Bloomberg shares our deep commitment to ensure that all children have access to a challenging academic program and the encouragement and support they need to graduate well prepared for successful futures,” said Diana Morris, director of OSI-Baltimore and acting executive director of the Open Society Foundations’ U.S. Programs.
“We are enormously grateful to Mayor Bloomberg for this gift enabling us to partner with Dr. Alonso and City Schools and the Fund for Educational Excellence to bring new education models to Baltimore,” she said.
This initiative complements and expands OSI-Baltimore’s ongoing education and youth development work to keep children connected to school pre-K through graduation, support school reform efforts to create new schools, and build opportunities for learning in and out of the classroom.
OSI-Baltimore continues to seek support from individual, corporate and foundation donors to help achieve lasting change in Baltimore.