• OSI Fellow Lawrence Brown launches Baltimore Equity Toolkit

    This week Morgan State University Professor and 2012 OSI Community Fellow Lawrence Brown launches the Baltimore Equity Toolkit and Power Mapping website. The Powermap, an analytical tool that can be used to both understand the impact of redlining and change the trajectory of redlined communities, was originally developed by Brown in 2016-2017 with the help […]

  • Mayor Pugh goes to Puerto Rico as part of Open Society mayoral exchange

    Last week, Mayor Catherine Pugh visited Maunabo, a city on the Southeastern coast of Puerto Rico, as part of a mayoral exchange organized by Open Society Foundations. The program, launched in February, was created so that U.S. mayors could express solidarity and share expertise with their Puerto Rican counterparts as they try to rebuild after […]

  • OSI grantees push for youth-friendly Miranda warning

    The Coalition to Reform School Discipline is asking the Baltimore school board to create a new version of the Miranda warning to use in the event that they place students under arrest. The coalition, which includes Open Society grantees NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, ACLU of Maryland, the Public Defender’s Office, and Disability Rights Maryland, […]

  • Teacher Exchange students meet with Dr. Santelises

    On Wednesday, students in Dr. Lamarr Shields‘ (back row, right) Teacher Exchange program met with Baltimore City Public Schools CEO Dr. Sonja Santelises (back row, third from right) to talk about the progress of their work and what they’ve learned. Dr Shields, and educator and 2016 OSI Community Fellow founded the Teacher Exchange with the idea that […]

  • Baltimore Teacher Supply Swap opens new location

    On Tuesday, the Baltimore Teacher Supply Swap, which was co-founded by 2016 Open Society Community Fellow Melissa Badeker (pictured), officially opened its new headquarters at 1794 Union Avenue in Woodberry. The Supply Swap collects unused supplies that sit in teachers’ homes and school supply closets and gets them into the hands of teachers who can use them. […]

  • OSI staff meet with representatives from Baltimore’s Latino community

    Today, several staff members from Open Society Institute met with about 20 representatives from Baltimore’s Latino community to talk about OSI’s program areas and Safe City Baltimore initiative, and listen to the representatives’ thoughts on what is most needed in their communities. Open Society Advisory Board member Veronica Cool (speaking in the photo above), arranged […]

  • OSI Fellow hosts Circle of Voices with Chelsea Manning

    2016 Open Society Institute Community Fellow JC Faulk hosted a conversation with Chelsea Manning, the activist and former Army intelligence analyst who served seven years in prison for leaking classified documents related to U.S. military efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan. The facilitated conversation, part of Faulk’s An End to Ignorance-Circle of Voices series, focused on […]

  • Community Fellows gather in West Baltimore to share ideas, progress

    The 2017 cohort of OSI Community Fellows gathered at the Jubilee Arts building in West Baltimore yesterday morning for their monthly gathering to learn more about each others’ projects and share ideas on issues and challenges that arise. At each of the monthly gatherings, all ten Fellows in the cohort offer and update and two […]

  • Tool drive benefits OSI Fellow’s work in Cherry Hill

    Last week, members of the Horticultural Society of Maryland (HSM) donated a pickup truck-load of plants and gardening tools and related items to the Cherry Hill Urban Garden (CHUG), led by OSI Community Fellow Eric Jackson, pictured here, right, with OSI Advisory Board member John Meyerhoff. OSI Leadership Council member Lenel Srochi-Meyerhoff, chair of HSM’s Community […]

  • OSI Fellow to receive Rubys Artist Project Grant from GBCA

    This week, 2016 OSI Community Fellow, Gianna Rodriguez was one of seven artists selected for the Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance 2018 Rubys Artist Project Grants in media arts and performing arts. The cohort includes artists working with electronic music, immersive sound, dance, video art, short film, and a multimedia variety show. As part of her […]