Archive

Last Friday, members of Open Society Institute’s 2018 cohort of Community Fellows gathered at the Goodnow Community Center in East Baltimore for their monthly opportunity to share ideas, progress, and resources. The first presenter this month was Amy Tenney (pictured with Fellow Ausar Daniels), who collaborated with the Goodnow Center and other organizations to establish […]

Last week, Open Society Institute-Baltimore hosted four visitors from the Open Society European Policy Institute (OSEPI), another organization within Open Society Foundations. OSEPI, based in Brussels, works to advocate on policy issues in Europe, including human rights, equality and discrimination, and transparency and accountability. Our colleagues were particularly interested to learn more about our “inside-outside” […]

Last month the Baltimore Sun profiled Baltimore City Schools’ Re-Engagement Center, which was created with Open Society Institute funding. The center, now in its third year, works to get students back into school after they have dropped out or been incarcerated or otherwise derailed by violence or trauma. The Sun reports that last year, about 540 […]

On Thursday, the New York Times Editorial Board weighed in on rising drug prices, citing the experience of Baltimore City Health Commissioner Dr. Leana Wen in trying to broaden distribution of the life-saving overdose reversal drug Naloxone. In Baltimore, the health commissioner, Dr. Leana Wen, uses a need-based algorithm to decide which emergency rooms, needle-exchange vans, E.M.T.s […]

On Tuesday, the Baltimore City School Board unanimously passed a new policy for school police. Such a policy has been under discussion for three years. Open Society Institute grantees in the Coalition to Reform School Discipline have been advocating for such a policy for years, although they were disappointed that their push for a youth-friendly […]

On Wednesday night, Open Society Institute-Baltimore held the first of three events in its 20th Anniversary Speaker Series. The keynote conversation, “Bold Thinking on Racial Justice in America,” featured Vanita Gupta, president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, talking to Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and OSI Advisory Board member Taylor Branch. (See […]

At a ceremony this morning at the Lord Baltimore Hotel, the Baltimore Business Journal recognized (above, left to right) Open Society Institute Advisory Board members Veronica Cool and Eddie Brown, and Community Fellowships Director Pamela King among 11 Baltimore-area “Leaders in Diversity.” Fenimore Fisher, vice provost and chief diversity officer at Johns Hopkins University, gave […]

Last week, Mayor Catherine Pugh visited Maunabo, a city on the Southeastern coast of Puerto Rico, as part of a mayoral exchange organized by Open Society Foundations. The program, launched in February, was created so that U.S. mayors could express solidarity and share expertise with their Puerto Rican counterparts as they try to rebuild after […]

The Coalition to Reform School Discipline is asking the Baltimore school board to create a new version of the Miranda warning to use in the event that they place students under arrest. The coalition, which includes Open Society grantees NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, ACLU of Maryland, the Public Defender’s Office, and Disability Rights Maryland, […]

On Wednesday, students in Dr. Lamarr Shields‘ (back row, right) Teacher Exchange program met with Baltimore City Public Schools CEO Dr. Sonja Santelises (back row, third from right) to talk about the progress of their work and what they’ve learned. Dr Shields, and educator and 2016 OSI Community Fellow founded the Teacher Exchange with the idea that […]