Moving ahead with construction of the proposed youth jail is a waste of human capital and money, and will result in a lost opportunity to support the success of Baltimore’s most vulnerable kids.

The Baltimore Community Fellows are often instigators of social trends that, through their work, shape our city. For example, for several years now, many fellows have worked to make healthy food available to people living in poor neighborhoods.

We need to let us our kids know that the first step to success is to show up to school every day. It’s our priority and it should be theirs.

If our leaders take bold and proven steps to reduce the state’s prison population, Maryland can enjoy low crime rates and low incarceration rates.

No one loses from the DREAM act. It reinforces what we know about the importance of education and the value of immigrant contributions. So, let’s be practical, let’s discard misinformation and rhetoric, and let’s invest in our future.

Sometimes, an idea is so logical you wonder why it hasn’t been adopted. Such is the case with a pilot project for those with addiction that began right here in East Baltimore.

Acknowledging white privilege is hard, but it is something we need to consider when we talk about equality and justice.

Addiction, like adult onset diabetes, is caused by behavioral, genetic and societal factors. And just as the treatment of diabetes is complex and individualized for each person, so should be the case with addiction.

Instead of warehousing young people charged as adults, we should find ways to treat kids as kids—even when they allegedly do wrong.

School attendance is another one of those solutions that is so obvious when it comes to the reason why some kids succeed and others don’t. But only recently has it become the focus of intense scrutiny.