Archive

This Friday, June 19th, a wide range of local organizations will hold events and campaigns to mark Juneteenth, the oldest national commemoration of the end of slavery in the United States. But as OSI grantees Job Opportunities Task Force (JOTF), Out for Justice (OFJ) and the Baltimore Action Legal Team (BALT), explain on the Facebook […]

In May, the Annie E. Casey Foundation launched the Baltimore Young Leaders Professional Development Program “to equip young leaders in Baltimore with the tools and support needed to create self-sufficient, sustainable nonprofits.” The program runs for six months and helps leaders strengthen their fundraising, budgeting, board development and data-analysis skills. As Casey’s announcement says, the […]

Yesterday, OSI-Baltimore Director Danielle Torain joined Mayor Jack Young, Baltimore City Health Commissioner Dr. Letitia Dzirasa, and other government and civic leaders to announce the launch of Baltimore Health Corps, a $12 million public-private partnership to hire hundreds of unemployed Baltimore residents to be contact tracers and care coordinators for residents of Baltimore neighborhoods hardest […]

Baltimore—Chronic problems with the Baltimore City election process and the profound lack of transparency about them pose a serious risk to voter trust and have further disenfranchised residents in marginalized communities. The lack of clarity about the process for choosing voting locations, delayed delivery of ballots to Baltimore City, voters receiving incorrect ballots, errors on […]

CONTACT: Evan Serpick, Open Society Institute-Baltimore evan.serpick@opensocietyfoundations.org 410-234-1091 Recent police murders of Black Americans George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery continue a long and shameful tradition in U.S. history, dating back to slave patrols, which morphed into police units after the Civil War. This dark history encompasses the killing of Freddie Gray, who died […]

Last night, 12 Baltimore City mayoral candidates, including Jack Young, Sheila Dixon, Brandon Scott, Thiru Vignarajah, Mary Miller, and Catalina Byrd, shared true, personal stories about overcoming adversity at last night’s Blueprint for Baltimore Virtual Stoop Mayoral Forum, which was viewed by more that 2.6 thousand people. You can watch it in full here: It […]

Baltimore — COVID-19 has presented unprecedented challenges to many aspects of American life, not least the orderly execution of elections. Across the country, state and locals boards of elections have struggled to quickly pivot to plan for elections conducted primarily by mail. In Maryland, the challenge of preparing and mailing ballots to about 4 million […]

Ballots are expected to arrive in Baltimore City voters’ mailboxes this week and this new PSA, which OSI created in collaboration with the Baltimore Votes coalition, starts airing on local TV stations today! The 30-second spot features Erricka Bridgeford of Baltimore Ceasefire, Marin Alsop of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Dr. Thomas Scalea, chief physician at […]

The spread of the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted not only in COVID-related illness and deaths in Baltimore, but widespread quarantines, job loss, food insecurity, economic insecurity, the suspension of in-person public education, and many other challenges. OSI-Baltimore has been working with our national and international colleagues, our many local partners, and community-based leaders to identify […]

The COVID -19 pandemic has raised alarming concerns for students – especially poor students in Baltimore. These children lack digital equipment and Internet connectivity, while also facing food scarcity, due most recently to an inability to access the regular meals provided by schools. In spite of being situated in the richest state in the United […]