Open Society Institute – Baltimore
Open Society Institute (OSI) – Baltimore : Audacious Thinking For Lasting Change
My audacious idea is that we initiate a process to develop more democratic structures for our city. When our country began, there were town meetings where citizens participated and actually made the decisions. Today, in most places the size of Baltimore, voting is the main way we are asked to practice our “citizenship.” After one […]
Baltimore sits in the greatest innovation gold mine in the world. The National Capital Region headquartered by the Federal government now stretches far to the north of Baltimore and as far south as Tidewater, Virginia, with Baltimore being the second largest and Tidewater the third largest Federal government employment centers in the nation, after Washington […]
Over the last 11 years, the Open Society Institute-Baltimore has worked hand-in-hand with the city to build a comprehensive public drug addiction treatment system. Since opening our doors in 1998, we knew that addiction treatment had to be one of our chief concerns if we were to help revitalize Baltimore and improve the health and […]
There are few times in life when a people can factually recall where they were and what they were doing when a significant event occurred. The election of Barack Obama to the office of President of the United States was such a seminal moment. His electrifying campaign resonated with voters seeking to cast a ballot […]
Why is the Baltimore City Council more willing to spend taxpayer dollars to defend illegal laws that keep its citizens out of drug treatment than to invest in their recovery? They should stop defending a fifty-year old zoning law that shuts out the very health care services that so many citizens want and need. The […]
Most suburban residents live in a metropolitan district in order to share the good things the city can offer. Sadly, we enjoy those benefits without paying a proportional share of their costs. Whether we use the urban setting for employment, or as a cultural, commercial, educational or recreational base, we rely on the city for […]
We need a new Voting Rights Act that makes private financing of public electoral campaigns illegal. Period. And we need to make it a civil rights issue. Consider: We do not allow private donors, each with his or her own desires regarding police protection, to finance the Baltimore Police Department. We disallow such a system […]
No, this is not an overly expensive trip to the Block, this is how we could create and or sustain 1,187,500 jobs, improve the quality of life, reduce congestion, manage growth, limit sprawl, protect and improve the environment, and increase opportunity for the 2.6 million people in Central Maryland. It’s a way to get one […]
As communities continue to endure the effects of a slumping national economy, it is imperative we utilize this opportunity to reassess the systems and programs of government. These times require us being innovative in our approach to transform government to be smarter and more efficient. Shifting the way we operate now will leave us in […]
It must be lost in the jumbled priorities of Washington. And it’s a real shame. Because with a little help, cities like Baltimore could bail out the entire country. Everyone seems to agree that America needs to become energy independent. And that we need to find a way to lower energy prices. And that we […]
OSI-Baltimore has permanently closed. It has been our honor and privilege to partner with and serve the Baltimore community for the past 25 years.
This website is available for historical purposes. It is no longer being updated.