I would encourage any senior leader who is looking for ways to learn about him/herself, while accomplishing good in the community where their businesses operate, to work with local non-profits and organize some volunteer activities.
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This isn’t your father’s unemployment line
Tuesday, May 28, 2013Job seeking ain’t what it used to be. First, you apply for unemployment compensation on a state agency website. You don’t have to talk to a person unless denied. Then, once registered, one is instructed to keep records of job-search activities because someone from the unemployment office could check on them at any time. This is where it gets complicated.
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Ending gun violence
Wednesday, February 06, 2013Gun violence does not only affect those directly wounded. Gun violence affects our fathers and mothers, our brothers and sisters, our cousins and play-cousins. Gun violence affects our neighborhoods, our schools, our churches, our homes, our playgrounds. It is an epidemic, a contagion that we should treat the same way we treated polio.
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Reading beyond comfort
Tuesday, January 08, 2013Finding levers of change is a tricky business—they are often drawn from a combination of existing knowledge, pure instinct and imagination. As OSI-Baltimore works to find solutions to persistent problems relating to education, criminal justice and addiction, it is critical to keep our thinking fresh and expansive. Given that, I’ve made a 2013 New Year’s resolution to take the time to read in more depth and to read more widely, particularly by exposing myself to different points of view.
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Mass Murder
Saturday, December 15, 2012It seems necessary to stop. Necessary to not just go on with whatever it is we are doing. How can mass murder become a routine occurrence in America? How can a horror like the Newtown, Connecticut massacre, for all its shock—the execution of children!—carry with it the strange sensation of utter familiarity? At what point […]
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Welcoming new Americans
Wednesday, November 07, 2012Baltimore has long been a city that welcomes new arrivals. According to some historical records Baltimore ranked 2nd only to Ellis Island as a destination for arriving Immigrants. What is less well known, is that while people were arriving in large numbers to Baltimore’s ports looking for rail, mill, and shipyard jobs, it was on these very same railroads that large numbers of arrivals decided to move out of Baltimore in search of greener pastures.
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Michael Bloomberg Gives $5 Million to OSI-Baltimore
Friday, April 13, 2012During his visit to Baltimore yesterday, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced a gift of $5 million to the Open Society Institute-Baltimore for its Accelerated Pathways Initiative. This five-year initiative will create rigorous, supportive and accelerated high school options in Baltimore that will significantly increase graduation rates and post-secondary success, particularly for the city’s African-American […]
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Baltimore can be a city built on renewal
Monday, October 24, 2011It is completely legal to discriminate against people who have a criminal record by denying them housing, employment, and voting rights. This type of discrimination locks people out of the opportunities that promote healthy and enriching lives.
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Baltimore should become a software education leader
Monday, August 22, 2011The U.S. faces a critical shortage of skilled software developers. Employers cannot find enough talented practitioners despite offering high salaries and generous benefits. I believe this is due to the outmoded, off-putting way we expose students to computer programming techniques, and I propose that Baltimore become the world leader for a new educational approach. Baltimore […]
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Get it TOGETHER
Monday, May 16, 2011At any given moment, countless Baltimore youth are facing harsh realities accompanied by fading dreams. Since coming to this city, I have had many conversations. They have included everyone from the young man being raised by a single mom, now a dad himself to the young lady seeking approval from a “too busy mom” to […]
