Archive

Last week, Tara Huffman, director of OSI-Baltimore’s Criminal and Juvenile Justice program participated in a panel discussion on policing in Baltimore, sponsored by the Racism, Immigration, and Citizenship Program at Johns Hopkins University. “Wherever othering happens, it becomes its most deadly in the realm of policing,” Huffman said, referencing the misguided mentalities behind the unconstitutional […]

2018 OSI Community Fellow Shelley Halstead was recently featured on the Tile Shop Blog as one of four “Inspiring Women in the Home Building and Design Industry.” Halstead’s fellowship, “Black Women Build-Baltimore” seeks to provide home ownership opportunities for women of color by providing training to fix, repair, and renovate homes.  Halstead and the program recently acquired […]

About 20 OSI Community Fellows, including most of the 2018 cohort gathered at Carrie Murray Nature Center to hear updates from three Fellows, to share challenges, to offer feedback, and to discuss potential collaborations. Eric Fishel, a 2018 Fellow, talked about his project, Baltimore Foodparks, through which he works to improve vacant lots, conduct scientific research, and […]

Forbes Magazine included Nicole Mundell, executive director of OSI grantee Out For Justice and an advisory board member of another OSI grantee, Baltimore Votes, in its piece, “These 8 Women Made A Difference In The 2018 Midterms Where It Mattered Most,” for her work supporting full voter participation for returning citizens in Maryland. As Forbes notes, Out […]

This week, the Baltimore Sun published an op-ed written by 2018 Community Fellow Shelley Halstead regarding the proposal by The Community Builders, a non-profit development corporation that purchased land in Druid Heights, with the original intention of building mixed-use housing. Halstead, who is the founder of Black Women Build – Baltimore, an organization that trains black […]

Ganesha Martin, who led the Baltimore Police Department’s efforts to shape and enter into the Consent Decree, has been tapped to lead the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice. During Martin’s tenure with the police department, OSI-Baltimore worked closely with her to launch a pilot of the Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) program, support and advise implementation of the […]

OSI-Baltimore stands with our grantees, the ACLU of Maryland and the NAACP Legal and Education Defense Fund, who joined parents of Baltimore City Schools students in filing a lawsuit against the state of Maryland, alleging that the state has not lived up to its obligations under the Bradford vs. The State of Maryland case and […]

This week, Dr. Lawrence Brown, Morgan State University Professor and 2012 OSI Community Fellow addressed the issue of Maryland Delegate Mary Ann Lisanti’s use of a racial slur to describe part of her district of Prince George’s County in an op-ed for the recently relaunched Baltimore Beat. “While many are ‘appalled’ and ‘outraged,’ the deeper […]

This morning, NBC’s Today show featured a four-minute segment on how fentanyl is worsening the overdose crisis in Baltimore and other east coast cities, and impacting more African-Americans. The reporter accompanied emergency responders as they administered Naloxone, the overdose-reversal drug, to several people experiencing an overdose. OSI worked with the Baltimore City Health Department for […]

This week, WJZ profiled Food Rescue Baltimore, the project developed by 2017 OSI Community Fellow Matt Burke to help combat food insecurity in Baltimore by redistributing good, healthy food that would otherwise go to waste. As part of his project, Matt established nine food giveaway sites in and around Baltimore. “This food comes from various grocery […]