Media Advisory
Contact: Evan Serpick
410.234.1091
Social entrepreneurs working locally to address problems in Baltimore’s underserved communities will receive $60,000 each over 18 months
BALTIMORE – In a press conference on Monday, November 1, Open Society Institute-Baltimore will announce a new cohort of 10 Community Fellows who will use $60,000 grants to launch or expand projects designed to address pressing problems in Baltimore’s most underserved communities.
The focus of the projects range widely, including helping local refugees gain access to resources, providing job skills and employment services to men with criminal records, using spoken word and poetry to help young people in prisons and youth homes express themselves, and engaging domestic abuse and rape survivors in designing public campaigns and creative interventions to support healing.
The new fellows join 160 alumni of the Community Fellows program, which OSI-Baltimore launched in 1998. Among the many Baltimore groups that started with OSI-Baltimore fellowships are Wide-Angle Youth Media, Bikemore, the Right to Housing Alliance, Community Law in Action (CLIA), Community Conferencing Center, and Baltimore Green Space.
At the press conference, to be held at OSI-Baltimore’s headquarters at 10:30 Monday morning, journalists will hear from OSI staff, members of the Community Fellows selection committee, and the 10 new fellows about their projects, the selection process, and the history of the fellows program
Press Conference Information:
WHEN: Monday, November 1, 10:30 a.m.
WHERE: OSI-Baltimore offices at 201 N. Charles Street, 13th Floor
SPEAKERS AND GUESTS:
- Diana Morris, Director of OSI-Baltimore
- Pamela King, Director of OSI-Baltimore’s Community Fellows program
- Andre Davis, Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, OSI-Baltimore Board Member, and a member of the Community Fellows Selection Committee
- Robin Wood, Attorney, OSI-Baltimore Board Member, and a member of the Community Fellows Selection Committee
- Kevin Lindamood, CEO of Health Care for the Homeless and a member of the Community Fellows Selection Committee
- The 10 new Community Fellows
About OSI-Baltimore
As the only field office for the Open Society Foundations’ U.S. Programs, Open Society Institute-Baltimore focuses on the root causes of three intertwined problems in our city and state: drug addiction, an overreliance on incarceration and obstacles that keep youth from succeeding both inside and outside the classroom. We also support a growing corps of social entrepreneurs committed to underserved populations in Baltimore. Before we make a single grant, we analyze the root causes of a problem and examine research and innovative practices aimed at tackling the problem. Because we aim for lasting, sustainable solutions, we engage public and private partners from the start. It is only then, with a clear picture of the problem, that we begin to focus our approach and diligently craft a road map for change. Visit us on our website: http://www.osibaltimore.org/
