• More national coverage for OSI grantee Holistic Life Foundation

    OSI-Baltimore grantee Holistic Life Foundation (HLF) continues to generate national attention. In late September the organization and its afterschool program, Holistic Me, was featured in articles on websites like Upworthy, Vibe, and Woman’s Day, to name a few. Just this week, CBS This Morning ran a piece about the program in Robert W. Coleman Elementary […]

  • Community meets to recommend priorities for justice reform at Solution Summit forum

    Click here to see more pictures from the Justice Forum   Community members packed the Real News Network conference space on Saturday to discuss and debate potential recommendations for Baltimore’s next mayor and City Council to address criminal and juvenile justice reform as part of a series of events leading up to OSI’s Solutions Summit […]

  • OSI’s Pamela King participates in national social innovation panel

    Left to Right: Darius Graham, Social Innovation Lab (SIL); Pamela King, OSI-Baltimore; Pres Adams, Impact Hub; Laurin Hodge, Mission Launch; Rodney Foxworth, Invested Impact, IMpact Hub, & SIL Advisory Board   OSI-Baltimore Community Fellowships director Pamela King recently participated in a panel hosted by Social Innovation Lab (SIL) at the Social Capital Markets (SOCAP) gathering […]

  • OSI’s Huffman moderates panel on police accountability

    Tara Huffman, OSI-Baltimore’s director of the Criminal and Juvenile Justice program participated in a one-day workshop presented by the National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement (NACOLE) and co-hosted by OSI and the Baltimore Office of Civil Rights and Wage Enforcement Civilian Review Board (CRB). “Pathways to Strengthening Civilian Oversight of the Baltimore City […]

  • Maryland AG Frosh says cash bail system is “likely unconstitutional”

    Yesterday, Maryland Attorney General Brian E. Frosh declared that the cash bail system in the state is “likely unconstitutional” in an advice letter sent to several Maryland delegates. The Attorney General’s findings were announced in both the Baltimore Sun and the Washington Post. In the letter, Frosh maintained that a defendant may still be held in jail […]

  • OSI’s Karen Webber talks about transformational practices in urban schools

    Left to right: Karen Webber, Taylor Branch, Edward Fergus and Marc Steiner.   Karen E. Webber, director of OSI-Baltimore’s Education and Youth Development program was a featured presenter at the Alliance for Community Teachers and Schools (ACTS) event, “Racial Justice in Urban Education: Celebrating 5 Years of Transformational Practice in Urban Schools.” Webber was joined […]

  • OSI director Diana Morris talks about her journey in Baltimore Sun podcast

    Baltimore Sun reporter Quinn Kelley recently interviewed OSI Director Diana Morris for episode 14 of “Female Trouble,” her podcast that spotlights women in Baltimore. The conversation was wide-ranging, including her own personal journey into social justice work, the real meaning of the phrase “open society,” and the struggle to have an impact of some of Baltimore’s most entrenched […]

  • OSI Board Member named in Baltimore Sun’s 25 Women to Watch in 2016

    Veronica Cool, CEO of Cool & Associates, LLC and a member of the OSI-Baltimore board made the Baltimore Sun’s 25 Women to Watch in 2016 list. Cool, a native of the Dominican Republic with more than 20 years of experience in commercial banking, lending, financial analysis and sales management, has been focused on the challenges […]

  • Solutions Summit Behavioral Health Forum sets priorities for change

    Saturday morning, about 100 people braved the rain to come to the War Memorial Building and discuss ways to improve behavioral health in Baltimore in the first of three forums leading up to OSI’s Solutions Summit on December 10. Baltimore City Health Commissioner Dr. Leana Wen gave the official welcome at the forum, laying out […]

  • OSI’s Karen Webber makes the case for progressive discipline practices in Baltimore City Public Schools

    In the most recent issue of the Unified Family Court Connection, Karen E. Webber, director of OSI’s Education and Youth Development program discusses progressive discipline practices and the restorative approach to student behavior in Baltimore City Public Schools (BCPS) . Webber gives three main reasons – poverty, racism or racial threat, and overly punitive responses […]