Baltimore lives among the ugly ashes of slavery, Jim Crow, and a so called “nonviolent” civil rights struggle. To meet the demands of the future, Baltimore, in its entirety, must be brought together as a whole, healed, and thrust forward. Murder and mayhem nor the fear of either can continue to rule the day. Baltimore […]
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Why nonprofits should be more like Enron (during its glory years)
Monday, March 14, 2011During their heyday, Enron had a policy of firing 25% of their workforce every year. Supervisors completed annual evaluations, employees were ranked, and those staff members at the bottom were asked to leave. The corporate philosophy was that if the poorest performers were replaced by others more capable, over time the organization would be more […]
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Health care reform—really
Monday, February 21, 2011My automobile’s engine was sputtering. The mechanic called to report that it had been repaired; however, a glance under the hood revealed that the engine had been expanded with more cylinders and carburetors, but still ran raggedly. “It would have been cheaper to replace it, but we wouldn’t have made as much profit.” The Patient […]
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Why aren’t we working together for full employment in Baltimore?
Monday, February 07, 2011On Martin Luther King Jr. day this year, 600-700 job seekers showed up at St. Frances Academy Community Center for its ninth annual job fair. Unemployed from around the city went to refresher classes, prayed before their noontime lunch, and then presented resumes prepared earlier in classrooms upstairs from the job fair held in the […]
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NewsTrust Baltimore: Your guide to good local journalism
Monday, January 31, 2011The Internet has radically changed the way we get our news, introducing new problems for communities like Baltimore: traditional media have reduced their local news coverage, new media startups are struggling to fill in the gaps, and social networks are flooding us with too much unreliable information. To address these problems, NewsTrust, our nonprofit social […]
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Shrink jails and increase services for women who need them
Monday, January 10, 2011Crime is falling in Baltimore and fewer women are being held in the Baltimore city jail. Plans developed several years ago to build a large women’s jail facility at a cost of roughly $181 million were based on a prediction of increasing crime rates and higher jail populations that never materialized. Clearly, these plans should […]
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The truth about audacity
Monday, January 03, 2011If you have big goals for significant and lasting change in Baltimore, you need to be audacious. But in addition, you have to partner with patience and persistence—and with the many others in our city who share the vision of opportunity for all. So our goals for 2011 are the same as they have been […]
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FamilySwap
Monday, November 29, 2010Sociologists, anthropologists and scores of human development experts have raised the question of nature verses nurture. Does the environment or the DNA determine the success or failure of a person? As it stands, growing up in Baltimore poses a myriad of challenges to speak to the variability of either position. Could a social experiment offer […]
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Moving the needle
Monday, November 22, 2010“[A] combination of realism and open-mindedness among residents—an underlying belief in the city’s potential, despite its frustrating challenges.” This is one of the responses I received when I asked Baltimoreans what they believed were the city’s strengths. Over the past two months, I have had the amazing opportunity to experience some of this realism and […]
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Celebrate a champion of social justice
Tuesday, September 28, 2010Our dear friend Clinton Bamberger is stepping down from the OSI-Baltimore board after bringing expertise, wisdom, a sense of outrage and humor to it over the last 13 years. We can think of no better way to recognize Clinton and his many contributions to us and the broader community than to name a Baltimore Community […]
