Archive

Last night, Mayor Brandon Scott swore in six members of the newly-formed Local Control Advisory Board, which will study the proposed transition of the Baltimore Police Department from state to local control. Among the appointees are four members of the OSI-supported Coalition for Justice, Safety, and Jobs, including Ray Kelly, executive director of the Citizen’s Policing […]

This week, 2016 OSI Community Fellow Deborah Ramsey’s Unified Efforts was featured on WMAR as the organization opened a new youth center in Penn North. Ramsey, a retired Baltimore City police officer, founded Unified Efforts as a way to broaden the horizons of young people in Penn North through after-school and summer programming. Ramsey also […]

On July 17, a building that 2018 OSI Community Fellow Shelley Halstead, founder and executive director of Black Women Build Baltimore, purchased to develop into a live/work space for artists near the Black Arts District was severely damaged in a fire. Unfortunately, Shelley was unable to purchase insurance for the building until it was stabilized, […]

Earlier this week, 2014 OSI Community Fellow Van Brooks, who founded  SAFE (Safe Alternative Foundation for Education) to help young people from the Franklin Square neighborhood where he grew up by promoting education and life skills, visited the White House to celebrate the 31st Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. He was also reappointed […]

On Friday, Mayor Brandon Scott and a wide range of public officials gathered at East Baltimore’s Rose Street Community Center, founded by 2000 OSI Community Fellow Clayton Guyton, to announce the release of his Comprehensive Violence Prevention Plan. The plan includes a vast expansion of violence prevention programs like Safe Streets, which have a demonstrated […]

This week, 2018 OSI Community Fellow Brittany Young was featured on WYPR’s Midday with Tom Hall to talk about B-360, the organization she founded that uses dirt bike culture to teach Baltimore City youth about STEM fields. She also spoke of her recent Fund for New Leadership grant, which will allow the organization to expand […]

Yesterday, OSI’s Scott Nolen joined Dr. Kaye Whitehead on the Today with Dr. Kaye show to discuss emerging trends in the COVID-19 pandemic, including the Delta variant, and vaccination efforts as part of the Baltimore Equitable Vaccination Initiative. Listen to the full segment here.

On Thursday, OSI-Baltimore and Business Volunteers Maryland held the first event in their “Business in Community” Discussion Series, focusing on workforce and employment. You can watch the full event here. Joe Jones, CEO of the Center for Urban Families and Vice Chair of the OSI-Baltimore Advisory Board, moderated the conversation, which began with a presentation […]

Mayor Brandon Scott, Health Commissioner Dr. Letitia Dzirasa, OSI’s Scott Nolen, and the Rockefeller Foundation’s Otis Rolley were among the officials discussing the progress on equitable vaccine distribution at a virtual town hall last night, Baltimore: State of Vaccination. You can watch the full event at the bottom of this post. The event was presented […]

Next Wednesday, July 21st, the Homelessness Workgroup of the People’s Commission to Decriminalize Maryland hosts the second workshop in its Summer Series, this one designed “to educate the public and build support towards repealing 4th Degree Burglary in Maryland.” From the registration page: Attendees will learn more about the criminal charge of “4th Degree Burglary” […]