• OSI Board member Joe Jones profiled in Christian Science Monitor

    Read the great profile in the Christian Science Monitor of OSI-Baltimore advisory board member, Joe Jones, founder and CEO of the Center for Urban Families (CFUF). In the piece, published in the Monitor’s “People Making a Difference” section, Jones talks about his struggles growing up – his absent father, his heroin addiction and multiple incarcerations […]

  • The Cure for Addiction is Compassion

    By Michael Camlin In a recent Baltimore Sun op-ed, Patrick Hahn asks: If addiction is a disease, why haven’t we cured it? This question is misguided. There are not yet cures for cancer. HIV. diabetes, schizophrenia, Parkinson’s, or Alzheimer’s, but I think we can all agree these are diseases, and so is addiction. The study […]

  • Reform coalition calls for end to racial disparities in school discipline

    In a recent op-ed in the Baltimore Sun, “MSDE school discipline proposal fails students,” the Maryland Coalition to Reform School Discipline claims that, while the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) acknowledges that African American students and those with disabilities are disproportionately suspended throughout the state, their proposed solution to the State Board of Education does nothing […]

  • OSI’s Scott Nolen Responds to Gov. Hogan’s “State of Emergency” in Op-Ed

    In an op-ed recently published in the Baltimore Sun, Scott Nolen, director of OSI-Baltimore’s Drug Addiction Treatment program responds to Governor Hogan declaring Maryland in a “state of emergency” over the opioid crisis. “If this were a hurricane or a flash flood, we would not be blaming victims for their predicament or arguing about whether […]

  • Taylor Branch: Nothing has bigger impact on American history or politics than race

    Last night at OSI-Baltimore’s Talking About Race event, Pulitzer-winning historian Taylor Branch suggested that race has been the central story line throughout American history and politics, and it continues to be in the age of Trump. (Listen to the whole thing below.) “There is no subject remotely comparable to the impact of race on our […]

  • Mayor Pugh calls for collaboration on solutions in State of the City address

    Yesterday, Mayor Catherine Pugh offered her State of the City address, which she divided into five key areas: education and youth development, public safety, economic and workforce development and expansion, smart cities and effective government, and healthy communities. (Watch the full address here.) She promised to address the school system’s structural deficit and to confront […]

  • George Soros calls to preserve America’s “openness, inclusiveness and diversity”

    In a New York Times op-ed published today, George Soros, the investor, philanthropist, and chairman of the Open Society Foundations (OSF), talks about the dangers inherent in President Trump’s aggressive immigration policies: Having survived the Nazi persecution of Jews in Hungary, I escaped from Soviet occupation at age 17 and made my way first to Britain […]

  • OSF-supported coalition launches national Communities Against Hate initiative

    This morning, Open Society Foundations (OSF) announced the launch of the Communities Against Hate initiative, an effort to collect data on hate incidents around the country and provide services to impacted communities. USA Today reported on the launch this morning. OSI-Baltimore is the only US field office of Open Society Foundations. Eleven national organizations representing threatened […]

  • OSI Leadership Council visits City Springs

    On Tuesday, OSI-Baltimore’s Leadership Council visited East Baltimore’s City Springs Elementary/Middle School. The school, with OSI support and the leadership of principal Rhonda Richetta, has become a model of restorative practices. Council members attended the school’s morning assembly and participated in a restorative circle led by three fifth graders. OSI is now working with Baltimore City […]

  • Mayor Pugh Transition Report cites OSI-Baltimore, Solutions Summit

    Mayor Catherine Pugh released her administration’s transition report in which her team not only lays out a vision for Baltimore City that focuses on improving transportation, strengthening the school system, increasing small and minority-owned businesses, and improving the health and quality of all neighborhoods, but also gives special recognition to “stakeholders such as the Open […]