BALTIMORE—A Johns Hopkins doctoral candidate will help the most at-risk students at Dunbar High School make it to graduation and college by providing them with mentors, tutoring, life skills, and practical assistance. A survivor of sexual abuse and witness to domestic violence will help other women who have experienced trauma, been incarcerated or had drug addiction or mental health issues. And a 73-year-old grandfather will collect the survival stories of his peers, pair them with accompanying recipes, and pass them on to the next generation.
These are just three of the eight people whom the Open Society Institute-Baltimore selected to be 2009 Baltimore Community Fellows, as the program celebrates its 12th year of supporting social entrepreneurs and innovators to achieve their dreams to improve the city.
Each of this year's fellows will receive $48,750 to work full-time for 18 months, implementing creative strategies to assist and revitalize underserved communities in Baltimore. This year's new class brings the total number of Baltimore Community Fellows to 110—most of whom still are actively working in the city, continuing to bring their energy and ideas to effect social change.
From their proposed projects to their personal stories, the Class of 2009 is extremely diverse. Fellows will take on a wide variety of projects, including a schoolyard garden and nutrition education program at Baltimore Montessori Public Charter School to introduce students to healthy eating; a community-based video production training program aimed at teaching skills that can be used to create positive change in the community and among youth; and a partnership with Maryland Institute College of Art and Baltimore Clayworks to provide arts classes-painting, sculpture, ballet, creative writing, poetry, letter and journal writing-after-school for children and during the day and in the evenings for adults in Sandtown.
Efa Ahmed-Williams, who is living with sickle cell anemia, an inherited blood disorder that causes tissue and organ damage, pain and sickness, will expand and improve a support, advocacy and direct service group for young people with the disease. Dwayne Hess, a teacher who grew up on a Mennonite dairy farm, will enhance a Southwest Baltimore neighborhood center which offers classes, free coffee, books studies, arts and music events, and occasional dance lessons. Because of OSI-Baltimore's investment, the center will now also offer adult literacy classes, holistic health and wellness services, GED and English as a Second Language classes as well as adult education.
"Our new Community Fellows are dynamic and committed social activists, each with an innovative vision for bringing opportunity and greater justice to Baltimore's neighborhoods so that all residents can participate fully in community life," said OSI-Baltimore Director Diana Morris. "With this 12th class, we are proud to add to our corps of talented Baltimore Community Fellows. Working across issues and neighborhoods, these Fellows are bringing hope, new approaches, resources and advocacy skills to residents throughout the city, mobilizing them to take action to meet their own needs and to revitalize Baltimore communities."
Fellow Sarah Hemminger, 29, started an intervention program for a small group of the most troubled freshmen at Dunbar High School. Her students are failing more than half of their classes and/or are struggling with severe personal challenges, such as drug and alcohol abuse, an incarcerated or deceased parent, homelessness, gang affiliation or sexual, emotional or physical abuse. The first group of 15 students all went on to be accepted to college.
"We want the kids nobody else wants," Hemminger says. "We think they have the greatest potential to be community leaders."
Fellow Herbert Johnson, 73, who is a resident of Catholic Charities Senior Housing at Basilica Place, realized that the oral stories of older adults could offer healing and guidance to current and future generations. During the fellowship, he will collect the stories of peers at Basilica Place.
"I heard one time that when an old person dies, it's like a museum burning down," says Johnson, whose project is called "No Easy Ridin' Here: Stories and Recipes of Survival." "I'm really trying to capture that history before it's gone. And maybe the young people might hear the stories and, after a while, maybe they might pass them on."
Fellow Jill Wrigley, 45, who helped create a Peace Park with a garden where children in her Irvington neighborhood could grow, pick and eat fresh vegetables, is working with the Center for a Livable Future at Johns Hopkins to institute a schoolyard garden and a nutrition education program at Baltimore Montessori Public Charter School.
Wrigley, who adopted two sons from Ethiopia, was dismayed when she discovered how quickly they cast aside the traditional whole grains, legumes, greens, and vegetables from their home country, in favor of sugary, salty, starchy foods in America. The foods in the school lunchroom, she found, were one major culprit. Through her fellowship, Wrigley hopes to expand schoolyard gardens and garden-to-table programs.
"We can and should equip our children to grow, cook and eat food in ways that will sustain their bodies and minds, the communities in which they live and the larger environment for generations," she says.
Open Society Institute-Baltimore launched the Baltimore Community Fellowships in 1998. The program has received support from OSI-Baltimore and several other foundations and individuals, including The William G. Baker, Jr. Memorial Fund, The Lois and Irving Blum Foundation Inc., The Annie E. Casey Foundation, the Cohen Opportunity Fund, The Commonweal Foundation, The Hoffberger Foundation, the Gloria B. and Herbert M. Katzenberg Charitable Fund, The Marion I. & Henry J. Knott Foundation, The Foundation for Maryland's Future, the John Meyerhoff and Lenel Srochi Meyerhoff Fund, the Moser Family Philanthropic Fund, and the Alison and Arnold Richman Fund.
A six-person committee selected the eight finalists from 250 applicants after an extensive process, including peer reviews, site visits and interviews.
2009 Baltimore Community Fellows
Citywide
Efa Ahmed-Williams
Through her organization Destiny Despite Sickle Cell Disease, Efa will raise awareness about sickle cell disease while encouraging and empowering adolescents and young adults to become capable of managing their chronic illness by using coping strategies and life skills.
East Baltimore
Rhonda Elsey-Jones
Rhonda will establish the Women Healing Our Lives Entirely Intervention Project to break the cycles of abuse, trauma, addiction and incarceration for women of promise.
East Baltimore - Dunbar High School
Sarah Hemminger
Through The Incentive Mentoring Program, Sarah will empower struggling high school students by surrounding them with a family of mentors to form a comprehensive and dependable social network. Students will become self-motivated, resourceful, socially aware leaders who are committed to service.
West Baltimore
Dwayne Hess
Dwayne will establish the Neighborhood Spiritual Center to promote personal growth and healing for west Baltimore residents. The center will offer adult literacy classes, holistic health and wellness services, and other workshops and events.
Central Baltimore
Herbert Johnson
Herbert will launch the No Easy Ridin' Here: Stories and Recipes of Survival project with senior citizens who reside at the Basilica Apartments. To celebrate the wisdom of these individuals, Herbert will record and preserve their stories and individual "recipes" of survival for posterity.
West Baltimore
Melissa Ruof
Melissa will establish Jubilee Arts, a community arts program serving the west Baltimore communities of Sandtown-Winchester and Upton. The project will counter the frequently chaotic street life experienced by adults and children in the community by offering arts classes in visual arts and dance.
Northwest Baltimore
Tresubira Whitlow
Tresubira will establish The Griot's Eye, a unique youth leadership and community development program that fuses media technology with cultural awareness. The youth will produce compelling video programs that encourage dialogue and action on social issues.
Citywide
Jill Wrigley
Jill will create a toolkit and resource guide that will help Baltimore City Schools bring healthy and sustainable food and garden initiatives into their school communities. Focusing initially on Baltimore Montessori Public Charter School, she will partner with local and international organizations to give more city schools resources to create gardens and access training programs.
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OSI-Baltimore was started in 1998 by philanthropist George Soros as a laboratory to better understand and solve the most intractable problems facing urban America. OSI-Baltimore is a private operating foundation that focuses its work exclusively on the root causes of three intertwined problems: drug addiction, an overreliance on incarceration and the obstacles that keep youth from succeeding inside and outside of the classroom. OSI-Baltimore also sponsors the Baltimore Community Fellows, now over 100 members strong, who work to create opportunity and bring justice to people in the city's most underserved neighborhoods.