Join Maryland Philanthropy Network's Education Funders Affinity Group for a conversation with the new Maryland State Superintendent Mohammed Choudhury. This will be a great opportunity to learn Mr. Choudhury’s goals for the Maryland State Department of Education, anticipated needs for the upcoming school year, along with an opportunity to explore the role of philanthropy in supporting public education in our state.

Join Maryland Philanthropy Network’s Education Funders Affinity Group for a two-part series on tutoring programs. For our second discussion, our speakers Joshua Michael from University of Maryland Baltimore County's Sherman Scholars Program and Maryellen Leneghan and Alan Safran from Saga Education will introduce us to their mathematics tutoring programs. Come learn about what we know about effective math tutoring practices, programmatic models for two leaders in mathematic tutoring, and ways philanthropy can help to expand tutoring supports in Baltimore.

Join Maryland Philanthropy Network’s Education Funders Affinity Group for a two-part series on tutoring programs. The first discussion will take place with three of Baltimore’s largest tutoring providers focused on literacy. We'll be joined by Lindsay Sullivan, Amplify; Rudi Zellman, The Literacy Lab; and Jeffrey Zwillenberg, Reading Partners. Come learn about what is happening with literacy tutoring programs, what those programs looked like before the pandemic and going forward, possibilities around what’s needed to scale those programs, and ways that philanthropy can help.

Open Society Institute (OSI) Baltimore was recently awarded a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation to pilot strategies to close the vaccination gaps among communities of color, which have been disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Join this conversation with Scott Nolen, director of the Addiction and Health Equity program at OSI-Baltimore to discuss the Equity-First Vaccination Initiative, what we currently know about vaccine decision-making, and to talk about opportunities to leverage or pool our resources to ensure that every Baltimore resident has meaningful access to empirically accurate information and vaccination plan that suits their needs.  Jennifer White of the Horizon Foundation will present on findings from a national study on COVID vaccine decision making in communities of color including local findings from Howard County.

Maryland Philanthropy Network’s School-Centered Neighborhood Investment Initiative funded a research analysis of the 21st Century School Buildings Program efforts. All MPN members are invited to hear from the research team: Ariel H. Bierbaum, MCP, PhD; Erin O’Keefe, MPP; and Alisha Butler, MA; about the report’s findings and the overarching questions they raise about the 21CSBP. These questions bridge their findings with the current context and aim to prompt reflection and additional conversations about the 21CSBP in the face of the “dual pandemics” of COVID-19 and systemic racism in the United States.

As the District reopens schools, Maryland is also experiencing its first-ever virtual legislative session. Legislation around digital equity, childcare, and the overturn of the veto for the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future are critical for the future of Maryland’s children. Maryland Philanthropy Network is pleased to host Melissa Broome, Director of Policy and Legislative Affairs, for a conversation about City Schools’ legislative priorities for the 2021 state legislative session and the state plan around funding.