• WYPR’s On the Watch examines Law Enforcement Officers Bill of Rights

    In the latest installment of WYPR’s series, On the Watch, reporter Mary Rose Madden looks into the Law Enforcement Officers Bill of Rights and the common conflict between police department transparency and individual officers’ privacy rights. “We have to protect police officers and afford them due process when they are involved in a critical incident when […]

  • Is Baltimore on edge? Police, school administrators, media say yes

    By Evan Serpick The jury in the trial of William Porter has begun deliberations. No doubt, it’s a case that’s been closely watched by many Baltimoreans, and any outcome will certainly be talked about and debated, as it should be. But many observers, particularly police, school administrators and some media outlets, seem intent on creating an […]

  • OSI-Baltimore Response to Dr. Gregory Thornton’s Letter to BCPSS Families

    Open Society Institute-Baltimore denounces Dr. Gregory Thornton’s statement, in a letter to BCPSS families, that legitimate forms of protest like walkouts are on a par with violence and vandalism. While we don’t condone violence, we call on Dr. Thornton and BCPSS to adopt policies and practices that honor the struggle to achieve racial justice in Baltimore and that respect students’ First […]

  • Listen to our Talking About Addiction event

    On Monday night, OSI-Baltimore hosted a Talking About Addiction event at 2640 to talk about alternative law enforcement approaches to addiction. The guests included Chief Leonard Campanello of the Gloucester, Massachusettes police department and Chief Fred Ryan of the Arlington, Massachusetts police department, who have both launched groundbreaking programs to help drug users enter treatment […]

  • Health Commissioner Wen testifies about opioid epidemic before Senate committee

    On Tuesday, Baltimore Health Commissioner Dr. Leana Wen testified at a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee. Acknowledging that the opioid epidemic is a health crisis that will take smart, creative ideas to fight, Senator Elizabeth Warren highlighted the ANGEL program in Gloucester, Massachusetts implemented by Chief of Police Leonard Campanello. In Gloucester, any […]

  • Baltimore’s eviction crisis

    With nearly 7,000 Baltimore residents evicted each year and more rent court proceedings than almost any other major American city, Baltimore has an eviction crisis. A new report from the Right to Housing Alliance, organized by 2013 Community Fellow Jessica Lewis, finds that Rent Court has become little more than a debt collection service that prioritizes […]

  • Anna Deavere Smith Sparks Conversations with “Notes from the Field”

    On Saturday and Sunday, Anna Deavere Smith presented the latest incarnation of her production, “Notes from the Field: Doing Time in Education, the Baltimore Chapter,” which focuses on the way the education system grooms some kids for life in the criminal justice system. Smith had performed an earlier version of “Notes” in Berkeley, but for […]

  • BALT panel talks about reducing police presence in schools

    Last night at Red Emma’s, the Baltimore Action Legal Team hosted a panel on reducing the police presence in schools. The event, part of BALT’s Lawyer Up series, featured Baltimore BLOC organizer Tre Murphy, Asst. Public Defender with the Juvenile Division of the Office of the Public Defender Jenny Egan, Director of OSI-Baltimore’s Criminal and Juvenile Justice […]

  • OSI-Baltimore joins Smithsonian to examine “The Power of Giving”

    The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History launched “The Philanthropy Initiative” today – which, not coincidentally, is “Giving Tuesday” – along with a new exhibit on “Giving in America” and an all-day symposium called “The Power of Giving: Philanthropy’s Impact on American Life.” Among the speakers at the symposium are Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, and OSI-Baltimore director Diana Morris, along […]