The Open Society Institute–Baltimore’s Solutions Summit is designed to create a community-driven blueprint for the new mayor and city council to address some of Baltimore’s most entrenched problems.
The summit will include presentations and discussions of potential priorities in each of the three key issue areas discussed in the forums leading up to the summit: jobs, criminal and juvenile justice, and behavioral health. At the end of each section, using mobile technology, everyone will vote on the priorities that we want Baltimore’s new leadership to focus on. The summit will also be a celebration of civic participation, with spoken word and musical performances, art on display, and food.
The Solutions Summit was created to harness the energy and ideas that came out of the Baltimore Uprising. Many events over the past 18 months have focused on the deeply entrenched problems in Baltimore. The summit is an attempt to pivot to a focus on solutions, and comes at a crucial moment for the city: on November 8, we elected a new mayor and 8 out of 15 new city council members. We aim to seize this opportunity to focus our new leadership on the priorities that are most important to the community. After the summit, Open Society and its partners will publicly monitor the mayor and city council’s progress on those priorities.
Speakers
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Sherrilyn Ifill
Speaker
Sherrilyn Ifill is the seventh president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.
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Kurt Schmoke
Speaker
Kurt Schmoke is former mayor of Baltimore, current president of the University of Baltimore, and Solutions Summit cochair.
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