• Advocates, community discuss adolescents, addiction, and juvenile justice

    Last night, a wide range of advocates, activists, families touched by addiction, and other community members packed Red Emma’s for a Talking About Addiction event focused on youth, addiction, and the juvenile justice system. The speakers included Evan Elkin (with the microphone, above), executive director of Reclaiming Futures, a Portland, Oregon-based organization established to build, run and test […]

  • OSI Community Fellows Network gathers for summit

    By Emily Smith Last week, OSI invited connectors from our OSI-Baltimore Community Fellows Network to a two and a half day Fellows Network Summit at the Tidewater Inn in Easton, Maryland. The connectors were identified through the network analysis process undertaken last year and span every cohort year from 1998-2015. The Summit, crafted with input […]

  • Heart of the School awards recognize outstanding principals

    The first annual Heart of the School Awards took place at the Hippodrome Theatre on Monday. Among the 11 finalists and 5 winners was Christopher Battaglia (pictured), principal at Benjamin Franklin High School, one of OSI’s “High Value High Schools.” As part of the High Value High Schools program, Battaglia’s school is working with the […]

  • New OSI report details buprenorphine program in Baltimore

    OSI-Baltimore is very pleased to share a new report, “Using Buprenorphine to Treat Opioid Addiction.” The report describes OSI’s approach and experiences in introducing and establishing buprenorphine as a new treatment modality to address the public health crisis of addiction. As part of this effort, begun in 2006, OSI and its partners succeeded in making buprenorphine […]

  • Talking About Race: Black Politics and Neoliberalism

    June 7, 2016 at 7:00 p.m., at Turpin-Lamb Theatre at Morgan State University’s Murphy Fine Arts Center (directions and parking info) In his recent book, “Knocking the Hustle: Against the Neoliberal Turn in Black Politics,” Johns Hopkins University political science professor Lester Spence charts the negative effects of the capitalist “hustle harder” mentality on African-American […]

  • OSI-Baltimore Statement on the Acquittal of Officer Edward Nero

    As people who live in and love Baltimore wrestle with the outcome of the second trial in the death of Freddie Gray, many may question whether the door is closing on our collective opportunity to advance justice in Baltimore. The answer is a resounding no. It’s important to demand that each officer answer for his […]

  • Clemency is a key tool for reducing mass incarceration

    Criminal justice reform advocates and community members alike were handed a win this week in Maryland when Gov. Larry Hogan signed the Justice Reinvestment Act, but an op-ed published in today’s Baltimore Sun urges the next president to act more quickly on clemency efforts at the federal level. Nkechi Taifa, Advocacy Director for Criminal Justice […]

  • OSI presents in BPD’s “History of Baltimore” speaker series

    A better understanding of Baltimore will lead to better policing. That’s the idea behind “The History of Baltimore,” a speaker series developed by Police Commissioner Kevin Davis after last year’s uprising as a way to give police officers a better understanding of the communities they serve. Topics include the history of Baltimore neighborhoods, the Orthodox Jewish community, […]

  • Buprenorphine Treatment Gets Federal Support

    Recently, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, responding to the increase in overdose deaths from prescription drugs and heroin, announced it was considering a measure that would allow physicians to double the number of patients they can treat with buprenorphine. Unlike methadone, where patients must travel to special clinics daily to receive treatment, […]

  • I Can B’More Concert Showcases Talents of Baltimore Youth

    On Saturday, May 14, the Baltimore Dance Crews Project (BDCP), an after school program that uses hip-hop dance moves to connect and strengthen relationships with students, held its 4th annual I Can B’More concert, showcasing the hard work and dedication of BDCP’s scholars. This year, dance crews coming from as far as from New York, […]