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, will be February 5th at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum (register here).

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 16, 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.