Open Society Institute – Baltimore
Open Society Institute (OSI) – Baltimore : Audacious Thinking For Lasting Change
Kids aren’t homeowners, but they have paid an unforgiving price throughout the housing industry collapse. They have lost their homes, and consequently, they have frequently had to change schools. 41% of students who have experienced a loss of housing attend two or more schools in one year while 28% attend 3 or more in that time.
Baltimore is a city of staggeringly disappointing statistics: 11 percent official unemployment with several communities ravaged by real unemployment above 30 percent; 25 percent poverty which is 15 percent higher than the state of Maryland and 10 percent higher than the national poverty rate; approximately 4,000 homeless residents sleep outdoors or in shelters daily…
Health Care for the Homeless was pleased last month to release a new report exploring the relationships among homelessness, incarceration, and re-entry in Baltimore. Student interns, HCH staff, and dozens of people who have themselves experienced homelessness and incarceration spent long hours listening to more than 400 men and women who had been released from jail or prison within the past ten years.
Across the nation, the economic crisis has caused homelessness among families and youth to increase dramatically. Public schools nationwide saw a 41% increase in the number of identified homeless children and youth over the past two years, reaching nearly one million students. In Maryland, the increase reported by public schools was 26%. Yet in Baltimore […]
On June 16, 2010, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development released its 2009 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress confirming what many of us already knew—family homelessness is on the rise. The same report documented an overall increase in homelessness in Maryland of 26.89% between 2008 and 2009. Baltimore County already uncovered a […]
According to a study by Baltimore’s Center for Poverty Solutions, 50% of those interviewed at soup kitchens and drop-in centers had been incarcerated, many for public urination, loitering, sleeping outdoors, and other nonviolent crimes that stemmed from being homeless. Of those incarcerated, 93% had been arrested for non-violent crimes, 41% received no services while incarcerated, […]
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.