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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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

This morning on WEAA’s Marc Steiner Show, leaders of the OSI-funded Baltimore Education Coalition (BEC), talked about ongoing efforts to get local leaders to fix the $130 million gap in the Baltimore City Public Schools budget for academic year 2017-18. Listen to the whole conversation here. “We’re asking for the mayor and the governor to get […]

Students at schools throughout Baltimore City mailed postcards to Mayor Catherine Pugh and Governor Larry Hogan today, in a demonstration organized by the Baltimore Education Coalition, an OSI-Baltimore grantee. The postcards urge the mayor and governor to fix the $130 million budget gap in funding for Baltimore city schools in the next academic year. The […]

Fourteen community, advocacy, and academic groups will come together tomorrow to announce the formation of the Coalition for a Safe and Just Maryland, which will focus on reforming the state’s bail system. The Open Society Policy Center, a non-partisan and non-profit advocacy group that is part of Open Society Foundations, is among the coalition members and […]

Last night, more than 2,000 students, parents, educators, and other community members joined a rally organized by the OSI-funded Baltimore Education Coalition, demand that state and local officials fix the $190 million gap in funding for Baltimore City Public Schools. Mayor Pugh, addressing the crowd, said that on Monday, she will announce a plan to […]