On Thursday, OSI and Business Volunteers Maryland hosted the third conversation in the Business in Community Discussion Series, focused on Violence Prevention and Safety. Watch the full event here (Passcode: $j2tkHTK). Dr. Seema Iyer of the Baltimore Neighborhood Indicators Alliance opened the session with some to data to set the stage, and she does with […]
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OSI Community Fellows among United Way’s Changemaker Challenge winners
Friday, November 19, 2021On Thursday, the United Way of Central Maryland Changemaker Challenge event, where local changemakers presented their ideas and many were selected to received grants to support their work. Several OSI Community Fellows were among the grant recipients, including: B-360, founded by 2018 OSI Fellow Brittany Young ($25,000) Safe Alternative Foundation for Education, Inc., founded by […]
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OSI, Baltimore City Health Department launch new web portal to support ongoing vaccine outreach
Tuesday, November 16, 2021Baltimore, Md. — Open Society Institute-Baltimore and the Baltimore City Health Department are proud to launch BmoreVaxxed.org, a new website and set of corresponding social media accounts designed to engage and educate Baltimore City residents about the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and encourage vaccination. The new website is part of the Baltimore Equitable Vaccination Initiative (BEVI), a collaboration between […]
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Black Women Build Featured on NPR’s Marketplace
Thursday, November 11, 2021Last night, Black Women Build-Baltimore (BWBB), the organization founded by 2018 OSI Community Fellow Shelley Halstead, was featured on “Marketplace,” the national NPR show focused on business and the economy. Reporter Amy Scott described BWBB’s efforts to help Black women buy and purchase previously abandoned homes on Etting Street in West Baltimore. Check out the […]
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JUFJ Honors Tara Huffman at Heschel Vision Awards
Tuesday, November 09, 2021On Sunday night, Jews United for Justice (JUFJ), a longtime partner and grantee of OSI-Baltimore, honored OSI’s Tara Huffman with a Heschel Vision Award for her tireless work to transform the criminal and juvenile justice system in Maryland. The segment honoring Huffman included comments from OSI Director Danielle Torain, NAACP-LDF President and Director Counsel (and […]
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Baltimore magazine asks: “Can Defund Work in Baltimore?”
Friday, October 22, 2021A feature story in Baltimore magazine asks “Can Defund Work in Baltimore?” Writer J. Brian Charles talked to several members of the OSI-supported Coalition for Justice, Safety, and Jobs (CJSJ), who have been calling for a portion of the policing budget to be divested and invested in community-based efforts to promote public safety. Specifically, CJSJ […]
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Baltimore Action Legal Team strikes blow for transparency in court
Thursday, October 21, 2021Last Thursday, OSI grantee Baltimore Action Legal Team (BALT) struck a blow for transparency as the Court of Special Appeals ruled that the Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s investigations into police are in the public interest and the State’s Attorney’s office must comply with BALT’s Public Information Act request and turn the records over. Read the […]
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Gates Foundation highlights Baltimore’s restorative practices implementation for national audience
Wednesday, October 20, 2021The Gates Foundation has been spreading the word about OSI-supported efforts to integrate restorative practices into Baltimore City Public Schools. A recent post on the foundation’s “Principal Project” – a forum to explore ideas that are working in education that reaches more than a million educators nationwide – featured essays from five Baltimore education leaders […]
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New report examines how Baltimore has escaped the worst of COVID
Monday, October 18, 2021A new Johns Hopkins University study compares COVID-19 cases, deaths, and vaccinations in Baltimore City against those in similar jurisdictions and concludes “Baltimore City has fared better than most counties with similar sociodemographic characteristics, as measured by COVID-19 cases, COVID-19 mortality, and COVID-19 vaccination per population.” Pew Trusts’ Stateline website reported on the new study […]
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Baltimore youth lead conversation about vaccines
Monday, October 18, 2021On Thursday, students from Baltimore area schools led a powerful conversation about youth vaccination at Baltimore Equitable Vaccination Initiative‘s second Baltimore: State of Vaccination event, which you can watch in full below. Watch the first event, featuring Mayor Brandon Scott and Health Commissioner Dr. Letitia Dzirasa here. Baltimore City Public Schools CEO Dr. Sonja Santelises […]
