Open Society Institute – Baltimore
Open Society Institute (OSI) – Baltimore : Audacious Thinking For Lasting Change
Everyone has an opinion about school food. That’s because everyone who has attended school is a subject matter expert—those who finished high school have been exposed to approximately 2,400 lunches that were either eaten, ignored, or trashed. Our consciousness of the nutritional value and quality of ingredients of these meals heightens when we send our […]
Any day, at any of the 22 locations of the Enoch Pratt Free Library system in Baltimore you will see hundreds of people tapping away on our computers. Across the nation, 60% of people who visit public libraries come to use computers and access the internet. In Baltimore City alone, 40% of households have no […]
Walking through downtown Chicago it’s hard not to notice that President Obama is a native son. There are pictures in the windows, banners that hang from street posts for whole blocks, and among the people there is a heightened sense of opportunity and possibility. Yet, on the south side of the city, there is the […]
Baltimore winters are typically snowed under ice storms and blisteringly cold winds from the west. I’m not a fan. Instead, winter has become my motivation to plan summer vacations. During these times of fiscal austerity however, I’ve postponed the summer tropical get-away. Even still, I look forward to visiting family and friends spread across the […]
Imagine walking into a Baltimore City public school, noticing immediately the light streaming in through the windows, the attractive rooms where children are excitedly discussing their latest project, the sound of a flute coming from the music room. Could this be a Baltimore City school? YES, IT COULD be, if Baltimore citizens and leaders team […]
My audacious idea is that we want to produce students who will help our country to be as competitive globally as possible. The 21st Century Economy is going to require more emphasis on STEM fields – Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics — and we need in Baltimore to think about being competitive within the 50 […]
Baltimore’s dropout rates and youth violence get their fair share of publicity. Blame has been placed everywhere – school structure, gangs, drug culture, family situations. What’s been lost in these conversations is a strong conviction of youth as individuals who need caring relationships with adults, nurturing environments, and stimulating activities in order to develop into […]
What if I told you that as a city we could reduce the incidents of sexual child abuse by 48%? Consider the fact that last year, the Baltimore Child Abuse Center interviewed 793 children about allegations of sexual child abuse; now consider national estimates that only one in 10 children report the abuse. Baltimore City […]
Baltimore City public schools are underperforming. The Baltimore City Data Collaborative showed that between 2006-2007, just over 44% of 8th graders were proficient in state reading assessments, and just 24.4% were proficient in math. We know that while high-school graduation rates have improved from over six years ago, still nearly 9.6% of our 9th-12th graders […]
If we took the best ideas from across the world to Maryland, our state would be the best place for children and families in America. But this isn’t happening. For example, Missouri has developed the best model for rehabilitating delinquent youth. Youth are served in small, regional facilities; families are involved from the beginning. Recidivism […]
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.