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During the 2019 General Assembly, state legislators passed a broad education package that includes expansion of restorative practices statewide. In recent years, OSI has worked with Baltimore City Schools to pioneer implementation of restorative practices throughout the district, and 55 of the city’s 180 schools have already begun implementation or are scheduled to do so […]

For the last couple of years, a group of OSI Community Fellows from the past 20 years, previously called the Strategic Advisory Group, have been meeting regularly to discuss ways for members of the network to work together to support the work of all Fellows to explore ways to engage in collective work. Last week, […]

Last week, a group of about 20 OSI grantees, Fellows, and staff gathered at OSI’s office for a training led by the Op-Ed Project, whose mission is “to increase the range of voices and quality of ideas we hear in the world.” Representatives from OSI grantees Advocates for Children and Youth, Restorative Response Baltimore, Baltimore […]

On Friday, actor/producer Michael K. Williams, who memorably played Omar Little in “The Wire,” came to Baltimore for a screening and discussion of “Raised in the System,” a documentary about the juvenile justice system. The event was co-sponsored by OSI, the Mayor’s Office of African-American Male Engagement, and the Reginald F. Lewis Museum, where the […]

According to a new report by the Vera Institute of Justice, incarceration rates in Maryland have dropped to their lowest levels since the mid-1980s when the War on Drugs led to a dramatic increase in the prison population. The primary goal of OSI-Baltimore’s Criminal and Juvenile Justice Program is to reduce incarceration and the Sun […]

This morning, Dr. João Goulão, the architect of Portugal’s ground-breaking national drug policies, met with local leaders, medical personnel, community advocates, and others at OSI-Baltimore’s offices to talk about decriminalization and prioritizing harm reduction and public health. After Portugal decriminalized all drugs in 2001, its drug fatalities fell to one of the lowest levels in […]

Last week, the OSI-supported Positive Schools Center led a two-day training in restorative practices for all staff at the city’s Safe Streets Centers, co-sponsored by OSI and the Family League. In recent years, OSI-Baltimore has partnered with Baltimore City Schools to integrate restorative practices district-wide. With this and another initiatives OSI is looking to expand […]

Dr. Leana Wen, who became president of Planned Parenthood in September after a landmark tenure as Baltimore’s Health Commissioner, was named to Time magazine’s #Time100, a list of the 100 most influential people in the world. Last June, at the first event in its 20th Anniversary Speaker Series, OSI presented Dr. Wen with a “Bold […]

Last night at Clay Pots, a West Baltimore community space founded by 2009 OSI Community Fellow Dwayne Hess, the 2017 cohort of OSI Community Fellows marked the end of their 18-month Fellowships by talking about what they accomplished and the work that lays ahead. The event started with an uplifting and energizing performance by the […]