The Criminal and Juvenile Justice Program of Open Society Institute-Baltimore seeks proposals from organizations able to provide high quality post-release reentry and reintegration services to individuals who have been granted clemency by the President of the United States for federal drug-related sentences and will be returning to Maryland, beginning November 2015.
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Baltimore police equipped with life-saving Naloxone thanks to OSI grant
Tuesday, September 01, 2015Pilot program focuses on areas hardest hit by heroin addiction Media Advisory Evan Serpick, Open Society Institute 410.234.1091 This week, 500 Baltimore police officers will be equipped with the life-saving drug Naloxone, which reverses opioid overdoses upon ingestion. The cost of the drug was covered by a Open Society Institute grant to Behavioral Health Systems of […]
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WYPR series “On the Watch” examines the practices and culture of policing in Baltimore
Tuesday, September 01, 2015Tomorrow morning at 5:51 a.m. and 7:51 a.m., during Morning Edition, WYPR will air the third installment of its year-long series, “On the Watch: Fixing the Fractured Relationship Between Baltimore’s Police and Its Communities.” The series is funded by the Open Society Institute’s Baltimore Justice Fund.
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OSI-funded Bard School welcomes its first students
Monday, August 31, 2015Baltimore Sun education reporter Erica Green has a great story today about Bard High School Early College, a new Baltimore City public school that welcomes its first students this year. The school, which was established with the help of an OSI-Baltimore grant to the Fund for Educational Excellence, allows Baltimore City students to graduate in […]
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The roles we must play
Tuesday, August 04, 2015We each have roles to play in the work ahead, work that will not end until we all understand and own our country’s full history of genocide, slavery and the exploitation of oppressed people—a history that often is hidden behind a false narrative of liberty and justice.
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OSI-Baltimore statement on the closure of the Baltimore City Detention Center
Friday, July 31, 2015The Open Society Institute-Baltimore endorses the closure of the Baltimore City Detention Center, a notorious facility that has, for decades, posed a serious risk to detainees, staff, family members and the broader Baltimore community. As the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services moves forward to end this shameful chapter in the state’s history, it is imperative that state and City stakeholders work together to leverage this unique opportunity to reduce unnecessary incarceration safely and to reinvest the savings to improve community safety.
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Affirming the Case for Student Voice
Wednesday, July 22, 2015There’s a whole body of research around restorative practices. The premise is that people are happier, more productive, and more likely to make positive changes when those in positions of authority do things with them, rather than to them or for them. In my ninth year now as a City principal, I have learned that when teachers and administrators give students voice—allowing them to speak up and for themselves—a culture develops that is conducive to learning.
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A systematic and compassionate response to addiction
Thursday, July 16, 2015During the Uprising in Baltimore, police said more than 27 pharmacies and two methadone clinics were looted for pain medications and other prescription drugs. City officials estimate that, as a result of looting, there are now more than 175,000 doses of prescription pain medications available for black market purchase.
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“The land of peace:” Calming down, speaking up
Tuesday, July 14, 2015If your only image of yoga involves White women in Lululemon garb, then you don’t know the Baltimore-based non-profit Holistic Life Foundation (HLF). Most often, you’ll find HLF founders Ali Smith, Atman Smith, and Andres Gonzalez teaching yoga to African-American youth in a public school gym. Most of these students are exposed to significant trauma—fallout from growing up in poverty-stricken urban neighborhoods.
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Audacious Thinking: Summer 2015
Monday, July 13, 2015In this issue, Tara Huffman writes about reimagining jail in Baltimore city and Diana Morris writes about OSI-Baltimore’s renewed commitment to improving justice and equality after the death of Freddie Gray.
