Archive

This week, NPR’s Morning Edition featured 2016 OSI Community Fellow Melissa Badeker talking about the Baltimore Teacher Supply Swap, the program she co-founded. The swap allows for educators to both donate any unused supplies they’ve collected and shop for classroom materials at little or no cost. Last year, Badeker says, they gave away more than […]

Like so many in Baltimore, we were deeply disturbed by the video that surfaced over the weekend of a Baltimore Police Department (BPD) officer brutally beating an unarmed man. We appreciate the quick statements by Interim Police Commissioner Gary Tuggle and Mayor Catherine Pugh, including the mayor’s statement that “We are working day and night […]

Tara Huffman, director of Open Society Institute’s Criminal and Juvenile Justice program, was quoted in the Baltimore Sun today, talking about the case of Deniro Bellamy, a mentally disabled man who overdosed on morphine and fentanyl in Baltimore City jail and died while being held for a traffic violation. Huffman emphasized the need for pretrial […]

Six Open Society Institute – Baltimore Community Fellows joined Open Society Foundations’ 2018 Soros Justice Fellows and alumni Fellows in New Orleans for a conference to showcase the work of the Soros Fellows past and present, participate in a series of presentations and tours related to justice work in New Orleans and around the country, and […]

Next Friday, August 10, young writers from the 7th annual Writers in Baltimore Schools Young Writers’ Studio will share work from their time at writing camp.  Middle and high school students from 9 Baltimore City schools will showcase their new fiction, poetry, and non-fiction at the West Bay of the Show Room at the Motor […]

This week, 2016 OSI Community Fellow LaMarr Shields speaks to singer and activist Ayanna Gregory on his “SoundBalming” podcast. Sheilds — who developed the Teacher Exchange, an innovative strategy to engage young people in their own education by having them act as coaches to new teachers as part of his fellowship – began the social […]

This Friday, Open Society Institute Advisory Board member Alicia Wilson, Vice President of Community Affairs and Legal Advisor to Sagamore Development Company, will be part of the Baltimore Business Journal’s “Enterprising Women” panel. The event will feature women who have overcome obstacles in their careers and achieved success. More information here.

Last week, Baltimore City Public Schools released the results of a survey of students’ feelings about school police. The survey, conducted by Youth As Resources and Baltimore Algebra Project (an OSI grantee), found that 84% of students feel that school police are respectful to students; 80% of students feel that school police are approachable; and 81% of […]

This morning, Scott Nolen (right), director of OSI-Baltimore’s Addiction and Health Equity program, and OSI Advisory Board member Joe Jones participated in a roundtable discussion at Healthcare for the Homeless to talk about efforts to combat the opioid epidemic, and in particular, the Comprehensive Addiction Resources Emergency (CARE) Act that Senator Elizabeth Warren and Representative […]

I am Autumn Stevenson, a 16-year-old rising junior at Baltimore Polytechnic Institute. This is the third summer that I have participated in Youthworks, a Baltimore City summer job program that helps youth from ages 14 to 21 get a five-week job experience. Working at the Open Society Institute this summer has been very different than […]