‘Audacious ideas,’ anyone?

Want to know who has the most “audacious ideas” to improve Baltimore? If so, you might want to connect with Audacious Ideas, a new blog launched by the Open Society Institute-Baltimore that was created to stimulate ideas and discussion about solutions to difficult problems in Baltimore.

The George Soros-funded institute launched the blog only a week ago, on Sept. 10, with a posting by OSI-Baltimore Director Diana Morris laying out the parameters of the site.

This week’s entry is by Baltimore City School CEO Andres Alonso; in it, he urges schools to rethink themselves as "part of a supportive, connected ecology that embraces innovation and a rethinking of what cities, neighborhoods and schools offer a citizenship in need of a reinvention of teaching and learning."

Deborah Rubino, OSI-Baltimore’s director of communications, says the blog “is by invitation at this moment. But my feeling is that this is really going to be an evolving thing.

“OSI believes in the idea of discussion and debate, and that all members of our society should be able to be participants,” Rubino said. “At this point, we want for people to go to the blog and comment on what’s there.”

Future bloggers who will post their ‘Audacious Ideas’ include Dr. Josh Scharfstein, Baltimore City health commissioner; Hathaway Ferebee, director of Baltimore Safe and Sound; Victor Capoccia, program director of OSI's new national initiative to close the drug treatment gap; and Jane Sundius, director for the education and youth development program at OSI-Baltimore.

Then, too, you can always come to The Daily Record’s blog to see what’s on our mind. We, also, invite your comments to any of our postings.

What are some of your "audacious" ideas?

-PAUL SAMUEL, Associate Editor