Thursday, March 26, 2020

Blueprint for Baltimore City Council President Candidate Interview Series Launches

BALTIMORE—Today, OSI-Baltimore begins to share its series of Blueprint for Baltimore City Council President candidate interviews, with City Councilwoman Shannon Sneed (below).

OSI and co-sponsors Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority’s Psi Phi Omega chapter and the Junior League, along with media sponsors WYPR and the Real News Network planned to host on City Council President candidate forum on March 18th, but the forum was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, we will conduct interviews with each of the candidates individually, using questions prepared for the forum, moderated by Lisa Snowden-McCray of the Real News Network, WYPR’s Tom Hall, and Khalilah Harris of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority’s Psi Phi Omega chapter and the Center for American Progress.

Monday, January 26, 2020

Baltimore residents seek violence prevention, mental, behavioral health services as path to safer streets, according to Blueprint survey data

BALTIMORE—The most important way to improve Baltimore neighborhoods, according to respondents in the Blueprint for Baltimore survey, is by creating safer streets. Asked how the city should allocate resources to respond to violence, respondents said city leaders should expand the Safe Streets program, improve access to mental health and substance use services, and improve witness and victim support. Respondents overwhelmingly said youth programs should be the top priority in the city budget.

Open Society Institute-Baltimore and community partners including Baltimore Votes, Black Girls Vote, Black Leaders Organizing for Change, CASA, and the No Boundaries Coalition conducted the city-wide survey from mid-October to early December, recording more than 5,000 responses, mostly through on-the-ground canvassing, augmented by online outreach. Candidates for Mayor and City Council President will be asked to respond to the data collected in the survey at a series of forums. The first one, a mayoral forum, was February 5th at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum.

Blueprint for Baltimore Candidate Forums What When Where Moderators Mayoral Forum February 5, 7 to 9pm Reginald F. Lewis Museum Tom Hall, WYPR and Lisa Snowden-McCray, Baltimore Beat, Real News Network City Council President Forum March 18, 7 to 9pm Reginald F. Lewis Museum Tom Hall, WYPR, Lisa Snowden-McCray, Baltimore Beat, Real News Network, and Khalilah Harris, Center for American Progress, and Alpha Kappa Alpha Mayoral Forum co-sponsored with Stoop Storytelling April 14, 7 to 9pm War Memorial No moderators

“The Blueprint report is a memo from the people of Baltimore, and I look forward to seeing how those vying to lead our city respond,” says Danielle Torain, director of OSI-Baltimore. “I’m particularly proud that the Blueprint data heavily reflects the opinions of young people and those in many of our city’s most marginalized communities, whose voices are often ignored or under-represented.”

Among the survey’s findings:

28% of respondents said the thing that would make the most difference in their neighborhood is safer streets . The next highest responses were less trash on the streets (16%), fewer vacant homes (15%), and making it easier to own homes (11%).

. The next highest responses were (16%), (15%), and (11%). Asked where city government should allocate resources to reduce violence, 32% said expand the Safe Streets program , 28% said improve access to mental health and substance use programs , 16% said improve witness and victim support , and 11% said increase the number of police officers .

, 28% said , 16% said , and 11% said . Asked which services should be prioritized in the city’s overall budget, 34% said youth services , 15% said affordable housing, 15% said small business and neighborhood development , and 15% said community-based safety programs .

, 15% said 15% said , and 15% said . Asked what should be done with additional funds allocated to Baltimore City Schools, 42% said providing services and counseling for students facing challenges including poverty, mental health, and trauma and 33% said ensuring every school has AC/heat and other necessary equipment.

The data is community-owned and publicly available. The raw survey data is available here. OSI, the Blueprint community partners, and the Baltimore Neighborhood Indicators Alliance are working on a dashboard for the Blueprint to make it easily searchable and accessible for policy advocates, community groups, and Baltimore residents.

Support for the Blueprint for Baltimore comes from Open Society Institute-Baltimore and the T. Rowe Price Foundation.

Tuesday, December 17, 2019

Candidates to respond to Blueprint for Baltimore priorities at Mayoral, City Council President forums in February, March, April

BALTIMORE—Candidates for Mayor and City Council President will be asked to respond to the priorities of Baltimore residents, as identified by the Blueprint for Baltimore survey, in non-partisan forums planned for February, March, and April, in the lead-up to primary elections on April 26th. The first Blueprint for Baltimore Mayoral Forum will be held on February 5th from 7 to 9pm at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum (registration here). The moderators will be Tom Hall of WYPR and Lisa Snowden-McCray of the Baltimore Beat and the Real News Network.

Open Society Institute-Baltimore and community partners including Black Leaders Organizing for Change, CASA, Baltimore Votes, and the No Boundaries Coalition conducted the city-wide survey from mid-October to early December, recording responses from more than 5,000 city residents, mostly through on-the-ground canvassing, augmented by online outreach. The survey results will be released in a mid-January report in advance of the Feb. 5th forum.

Blueprint for Baltimore Candidate Forums What When Where Moderators Mayoral Forum February 5, 7 to 9pm Reginald F. Lewis Museum Tom Hall, WYPR and Lisa Snowden-McCray, Baltimore Beat, Real News Network City Council President Forum March date TBD Reginald F. Lewis Museum Tom Hall, WYPR and Lisa Snowden-McCray, Baltimore Beat, Real News Network Mayoral Forum co-sponsored with Stoop Storytelling April 14, 7 to 9pm War Memorial (tentative) No moderators

“From the beginning, our goal was to reach a broad range of Baltimore residents, particularly those from marginalized communities, and find out what they wanted from city leadership,” says Tracy Brown, acting director of OSI-Baltimore. “The next step is to take that data, present it to those vying to lead the city, and find out how they respond, so city residents can make informed decisions on April 26th.”

The survey asked Baltimore residents to identify their priorities on a wide range of public policy issues, including education, public safety, and housing. The data collected will be community-owned and community partners are currently discussing a process for community representatives to access and leverage the data to create meaningful change long after the 2020 elections.

Support for the Blueprint for Baltimore comes from Open Society Institute-Baltimore and the T. Rowe Price Foundation.