Shawna Murray Browne knows the unique needs of black teen girls in Baltimore. She grew up in Baltimore City…and went on to get a master's in social work. She tells Tom Hall about The Usisi Circle, her program that helps girls build self-esteem, deal with trauma, and become the adults they want to be.
Students learn at different rates, and some schools group students by ability. It’s sometimes called tracking. But, does it put the lower track students at a life-long disadvantage? Today, we talk with Maryland educators and an education expert from the National Education Policy Center.
In workshops and classrooms, Baltimoreans confront white privilege. Then, we look at growing poverty in the Baltimore suburbs.
A new Georgetown University report says America's higher education system is perpetuating racial inequality, as most white students go off to selective schools, and most minorities end up at the rest. We ask three people from our region's higher education world what it looks like on the ground here.
Is class a bigger driver than race in the educational achievement gap? We’ll ask a Stanford professor how the gap is affecting higher education. A community leader and CNN writer share their own college experiences and give us their takes on the future of race-based affirmative action. Then, students describe the lines from their perspectives.
Today, we hear from Baltimore city parents about "the decision." When it comes time, where will they send their young children to school? We'll hear about parochial schools, charter schools, neighborhood schools, and...a decision to pick up and move to another school district.
Today, we're going out into the city to actually see the lines between us. Urban planner Daniel D'Oca shows us a few examples of physical barriers in Baltimore that push apart people of different backgrounds. Then residents of Northwest Baltimore tell us how they communicate across a perceived line between African-American and Orthodox Jewish communities.
When the Supreme Court ruled in 1954 that separate schools are not equal, Baltimore left it to families to choose where to send their kids. We'll talk to three people who were attending city schools when the decision came down, and we'll explore the implications today with Morgan State's Ray Winbush and "Brown in Baltimore" author Howell Baum.
Racial disparities in juvenile arrests, sentencing, and incarceration have been so stark for so long that Congress has given the federal government the ability to withhold federal funding from states who fail to do something about it. We ask what's happening in Maryland.
What's the power of talking through crimes and conflicts? Plus, Tom Hall goes to West Baltimore to visit a program that's trying to restore lives--and neighborhoods--as they teach ex-offenders construction skills by having them renovate vacant houses.
We pause again in the series to share some of the listener comments and stories we have received over the past few months. Then, can Northeast Baltimore hang on to its middle class legacy? We ask two residents.
That's the portrait that Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle's Dayvon Love paints of the Baltimore region's nonprofit sector. We'll hear his essay and talk to members of Baltimore Racial Justice Action and Latino Providers Network about race and power dynamics among those serving our poorest communities.
When convicts pay their debt to society…should they accrue financial debt? We ask Baltimore's deputy public defender how much money it costs to be involved with the criminal justice system. Then, why are people with debt landing in jail? Consumer advocates say they're missing court dates and the process is unfair to the poor.
Can racial disparities in our prisons be connected all the way back to policing strategies? Today we look at police-community relations with Baltimore Police Lt. Col. Melvin Russell, who heads up the department's new community partnerships unit.
Last week in our series, we looked at the generational cycle of incarceration that ravages some Baltimore neighborhoods. Today, we’ll talk about how to break the cycle of violence and incarceration, with a particular emphasis on the role of fathers to make or break the cycle.
In some Baltimore communities-where so many ex-offenders return to from prison-young people may see incarceration almost as a rite of passage. We talk to Nancy LaVigne, director of the Justice Policy Center at the Urban Institute, and Adrian Muldrow, program manager for the Druid Heights CDC "We Can Achieve" Program.
Every year, thousands of ex-offenders return to Baltimore City from jail or prison. When they try for a job, often their conviction records make the first impression. Today on “The Lines Between Us,” we examine the difficulties in transitioning from "ex-offender" to "employee."
In 1963, Gideon v. Wainwright established the right to an attorney in criminal cases. Now, 50 years later, we examine whether the system is working with Maryland's public defender, the executive director of the state's access to justice commission, and a law professor who thinks we still have a long way to go.
It's been 59 years since the Brown v. Board ruling ordered the integration of American schools. On the Lines Between Us, two civil rights lawyers share strategies for challenging structural inequality in an era when the courts are looking for individual wrongdoing, not the lingering effects of decades-old discriminatory government policies.
Adminstrative segregation, disciplinary segregation--Maryland prisons separate some inmates from others for many reasons. Does it add up to "solitary confinement"? And what's the psychological effect? We'll talk to three former state and federal inmates about their experience.
Over 17,000 Baltimoreans are dealing with drug addiction problems. What challenges do they face in overcoming addiction? And what role do money and race play in recovery?
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has a mandate to take a more active role--or "affirmatively further"--the integration of our communities. Critics say HUD should go...further with affirmatively furthering, although some say they were more aggressive in President Obama's first term. We'll hear HUD's plans for our region.
Today, on The Lines Between Us, Maryland's four Historically Black Colleges and Universities: What do they mean for a college student in the 21st century? We talk with a Morgan State professor, the chair of the Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland, and a student who transferred out of an HBCU.
Do Baltimore's blue-light police cameras make neighborhoods more safe--or just tell more affluent residents which neighborhoods are not safe to visit? We talk to the director of Baltimore's CITIWATCH program, a city councilman who wants more cameras for his district, and artists who have addressed life among the blue lights.
The "line" we explore today is inequality in what people get paid...within the same company. We'll ask a business school professor why CEO pay has outpaced worker pay, and we'll hear about efforts in Maryland to reverse the trend. (Photo credit: flickr/401(K) 2013)
In this week's episode, we share some of the listener comments and stories we have received over the past few months. From "Your Stories" and comments, we learn how you see The Lines Between Us.
Today, why some seniors in Maryland worry about whether they’ll have enough to eat. We examine the line between hunger and health among seniors with James Ziliak, Director of the Center for Poverty Research at the University of Kentucky and Cathy Demeroto, Executive Director of Maryland Hunger Solutions.
More and more young people are taking unpaid internships, hoping to launch a white collar career. What about those who can't afford to work for free?
Today, gender: in the workplace, and in the household. Why do women in Maryland make 88 cents to every dollar made by men? Plus, how men and women split the tasks of cleaning and child care.
In 1970, two-thirds of Americans lived in middle-income neighborhoods. Now it's less than half, and poor and rich neighborhoods have doubled. Today we examine income segregation with a researcher and several residents of Baltimore's middle-class neighborhoods.
How does the way we speak affect the way others see us--particularly employers? Sheilah asks Charles Ramos, president and CEO of CR Dynamics and Associates and Coppin State University humanities professor Dr. Kokovah Zauditu-Selassie.
Sheilah Kast and Melody Simmons investigate developers' follow-through on promises for local hiring, and Marian House executive director Katie Allston tells Tom Hall stories of women's recovery from homelessness, addiction, and mental illness.
How does transportation help, or hinder, our job prospects? Where do public transit and job opportunities intersect? We ask Brookings Institution researcher Adie Tomer and Michael Walk, the Maryland Transit Administration’s Acting Director of Service Development.
What is the psychological toll of poverty, unemployment, and underemployment? We'll ask a few residents of the Baltimore region who know first hand, and we'll talk to Johns Hopkins Bayview's clinical supervisor of mobile treatment services about financial instability and mental health.
This week on the Lines Between Us—the path to a paycheck. Certain neighborhoods in Baltimore city are dealing with consistently high unemployment, such as the Oliver neighborhood where every fourth person is looking for work. We ask: what training programs exist to connect the unemployed to jobs—and ideally, jobs they enjoy?
Today, what does "who you know" mean when you take race and class into account? First, Baltimore Sun columnist Lionel Foster with an essay on how networks helped him along the way. And, sociologist Deirdre Royster on what she found studying networks among white and black vocational students in Baltimore looking for blue-collar work.
Today, some people in Baltimore's nonprofit community tell us why they're moving the conversation about employment opportunities beyond "diversity" into "inclusion," and we'll learn what the difference is.
Law professor Larry Gibson and Governor's Commission on Small Business chair Ackneil Muldrow, II, tell us the role of "Little Willie" Adams in financing Baltimore's mid-century black entrepreneurs, and what the expansion of credit to minority businesspeople in the decades that followed means for black small business today.
In this episode of "The Lines Between Us" we broadcast the audio from our Dec. 4 film screening of "Race: The Power of an Illusion" and the panel discussion that followed.
Inequality discussions often focus on income inequality. But the wealth gap is just as complicit in perpetuating disadvantage through the generations. We'll talk about how housing contributed to the wealth gap, and meet an 88-year-old black World War II veteran who is feeling the effects of that gap as his health declines.
Morgan State University is partnering with residents and businesses in Northeast Baltimore on an initiative called the "Morgan Community Mile." How are the University and the community working together after being separated for so long? Sheilah asks Morgan State's dean and the secretary of the Northeast Community Organization.
In this week's episode of "The Lines Between Us," listeners describe the lines from their perspective.
What role did race play in this election? What does the president’s victory tell us about how our society is changing? And what has Barack Obama done--or failed to do--to address inequality? And the "LGBT" community celebrates a same-sex marriage victory in Maryland. We talk with gay and transgender advocates about what's next on their agenda.
ProPublica reporter Nikole Hannah-Jones tells us why she believes the federal government has, for over four decades, blown its chance to help create more integrated communities across the country.
In this week's episode we examine the history and policies of public housing in Baltimore from several different perspectives.
Today we examine how the foreclosure crisis broke down in the Baltimore area along race and class lines, and we visit the city's Belair-Edison community to see the personal cost of foreclosure and hear how neighbors are pulling together to fortify their neighborhood against the foreclosure crisis.
“The Lines Between Us” series continues, with a look at neighborhood diversity. Edmondson Village in the 60s, Patterson Park in the 90s--how neighborhoods change in racial and class demographics.
We look at how vacants relate to inequality in the region and examine the progress made by Baltimore's Vacants to Value program.
In the premiere episode of "The Lines Between Us," we hear how residential segregation took root in Baltimore, and a personal story from a man who learned an important lesson about race from his father as the civil rights movement was unfolding around them in 1960s Northwest Baltimore.
