Who wants to be a philanthropist?

As someone who has raised funds for over 30 years for causes I care about deeply, I am often curious what people do with the money they win on games shows like “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?” Of course, as I think to myself, someone needs to help them figure out how to give […]

Big solutions

We enter the New Year with startling economic developments that threaten the security of residents throughout the country, including right here in Maryland:  soaring levels of unemployment, high rates of foreclosure, and dramatic losses in savings and investments.  The scope of the recession—and the time and reinvestment required to recover from it—oddly gives us the […]

What’s your favorite audacious idea of 2008?

What are your three favorite Audacious Ideas for Baltimore? Audaciousideas.org is meant to be a forum for debate about critical ideas and solutions to our city’s most challenging problems. Please let us know which three ideas you think have the most potential for making Baltimore a city where opportunity thrives for all its residents. Just […]

More splendid ideas for Baltimore

As we mentioned last week, because there have been so many great ideas generated on the blog, it was pretty much impossible for our staff to agree on just one—or two, or three. But we are “re-posting” several more this week that we felt deserved a second read. Please take the time, as the year […]

Best audacious blog posts: part 1

As the year comes to a close, the Open Society Institute-Baltimore staff took a moment to reflect upon and review the more than 50 audacious ideas that have been posted here on audaciousideas.org. In true Open Society fashion, everyone in the office had a different idea about their favorites, so we did not choose just […]

Let’s stop rewarding truant students with more time off from school

It’s good news that communities and schools are starting to pay serious attention to the problem of student absence and truancy. After all, teachers can’t teach children who simply aren’t there. Students who miss a lot of school are very likely to fail, drop out and struggle throughout their lives. Some of the renewed emphasis […]

Eliminate the concept of fatherless in our communities

Just the other day I received an email from a young man whom I worked closely with while I was directing a Beacon School in the heart of Harlem during the early 1990’s. Victor was writing to invite me to a book signing for Bandana Republic, an anthology of poetry and prose by gang members […]

What do Baltimore’s children & youth need to succeed? Let’s ask them

I have practiced civil rights law for twelve years and have had the pleasure of traveling to cities across this country to work with youth, particularly African-American and Latino youth, who wanted to improve services provided by public schools and juvenile justice systems.   When I think about some of the youth I have met, I […]

Using television for literacy skills

My audacious idea is to use television to help children learn their letters and, maybe, even to read.  This may be a surprising suggestion given that TV is cited as a main reason for the decline in children’s reading. But, this heretical idea comes to mind for three reasons: First, children watch a lot of […]

Suppose we voted?

Here is an audacious idea. What if people actually voted? When the “founding fathers” first wrote the constitution, only white men could vote. Since that time, extraordinary citizens have given up life and liberty to expand voting rights to all citizens so that the United States could try to become a government of the people.  […]