Make creditors prove they are entitled to collect a debt

Each year, thousands of Maryland consumers are sued for unpaid debts. The vast majority of these cases are brought in small claims court by third party debt buyers. Usually, these debt buyers lack the proper documentation and evidence to show that (1) a debt is actually owed, (2) the amount claimed is accurate, and (3) […]

Investing our resources in summer

Editor’s note: Brenda McLaughlin will be at OSI-Baltimore for the first forum in our Learning about Learning series, Expanding Learning Beyond the School Year, on Tuesday, June 7th. Friday, June 17 is the last day of school for students in Baltimore City.  Here in the suburbs of Philadelphia, my sons share the same last day. […]

Using what works in education

Baltimore City Schools have struggled for years to raise student achievement. There have been multiple strategies, any number of new textbooks and instructional approaches, and lots and lots of money invested in attempts to move students toward proficiency, particularly in math and reading. Though recently students have been achieving at higher levels, city students are […]

Suspended before kindergarten? What’s wrong with this picture?

The Maryland State Department of Education recently released its data on suspensions, expulsions, and health-related exclusions for the 2009-2010 school year. As I was preparing an OSI-Baltimore factsheet using the numbers, an alarming data point arose: 75 pre-K students in Maryland received an out-of-school suspension or were expelled during the school year. The punished incidents […]

A better place for city kids to play

For many of Baltimore’s vulnerable young people, games and sports will be played in the streets if Baltimore follows through in closing over half of our Recreation Centers. With the projected closings, we need to re-examine how and where Baltimore’s youth are recreating, and plan ahead to meet their needs with realistic and cost effective […]

Shrink jails and increase services for women who need them

Crime 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 […]

Preserving Baltimore’s affordable housing

“America today presents the paradox of a rich country falling apart because of the collapse of its core values. Almost everybody complains, almost everybody aggressively defends their own narrow, short-term interests, and almost everybody abandons any pretense of looking ahead or addressing the needs of others.” -Jeffrey Sachs, America’s Moral Crisis, The Guardian, October 4, […]

A jobs strategy for everyone

If our goal is to redevelop Baltimore and the State of Maryland into a world class city and state, we will need to insure that everybody is working with that same goal in mind. We need a jobs strategy that involves all levels of our society. Currently, there is a jobs strategy for biotechnical, technology, […]

Rate Your Ride

Complaining about public transportation is almost a national pastime.  While not quite cocktail party chatter, transit often comes up in conversations “around the water cooler” and invariably the discussion descends into who has had the worst experience. And also invariably the conversations end with at least one “why don’t they just…” Unfortunately, water cooler conversations […]