(BALTIMORE – July 26, 2026) – Happy Disability Pride Month and the 36th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)! Pride means naming disability out loud and with dignity. Disability should not be a source of shame or stigma. Naming disability gives a person the language to describe how they move through the world and to ask for the access they need to reach their full potential. Lately, I’ve had a lot of conversations with people about what it means for children to reach their full potential in the context of disability. Stigma around disability runs deep in communities…

Every day, a child dies or is misdirected because we are not listening to their cries. They are asking for help, and too often, all we give them are speeches, excuses, and parties that do nothing to change their lives. (BALTIMORE – July 23, 2026) – A society that expects young people to make good choices must first be honest about how little it is doing to help them make those choices. We cannot keep telling our youth to stay out of trouble while refusing to give them anything better to do, anything better to hope for, or anyone better to…

(BALTIMORE – July 20, 2026) Background Baltimore is changing. The reduction in violent crime is primarily grassroots-driven and under-recognized. The landscape and narrative around our community is literally like tectonic plates shifting beneath our feet. And the impact is seismic.  The story has gone viral and praise is being showered upon several individuals in high places. My biggest problem with that is, the people most responsible for that seismic shift are rarely the ones you hear credited with these accomplishments. In today’s political climate I want to reframe the conversation, not take a victory lap. Our reimagining of public safety…

(BALTIMORE – June 22, 2026) – On Saturday, I walked with my wife and our four small children to the AFRAM Festival at Druid Hill Park. Living close by, we wanted to soak up the sights and be among people we know for the 50th Anniversary of one of the largest free celebrations of Black culture on the East Coast. My wife suggested we go to let the kids run and play with our friend’s kids in the children’s area while we listened to some of the artists on stage. When we arrived, it was a beautiful sight: Black folks…

(BALTIMORE – June 10, 2026) – Planners in Baltimore continue to design transportation systems for the citizens they *wish* existed rather than the citizens who are actually here. This disconnect is at the heart of why so many mobility projects, especially bike‑focused Complete Streets initiatives, fail to reflect the lived realities of Black residents in the Black Butterfly. When a neighborhood is asking for streetlights, grocery stores, safe crossings, traffic calming, functioning sidewalks, and economic investment, and instead receives a bike lane, it sends a clear message: The City is not planning for the people who live here; it is…

(FT. LAUDERDALE, FL – June 2, 2026) – Cities and Counties are shaped by legacy and lifted by possibility. Places where resilience, community, and aspiration forge the way forward. However, if a city and/or county’s leadership officials are sincere about playing a key role in realistically improving the communities they represent, leaders in government, business, philanthropy, and community-based organizations must embrace accepting the collective responsibility of helping to strengthen every neighborhood instead of focusing solely upon their downtown areas and suburban enclaves (which means paying particular attention to and including urban neighborhoods that have long been neglected or overlooked) by…

(BALTIMORE – May 27, 2026) – This is what I’m talking about when I say we live in a two-tiered system. Dalya Attar is currently facing federal blackmail and extortion charges, along with her brother and a former Baltimore police officer, whom she also allegedly used in her plot to weaponize a sex tape of her former campaign consultant. Reading through the charges really makes me feel like I’m watching the movie Enemy of the State. She should have stepped down as soon as this indictment was made public. Instead, she ran for reelection to the Maryland state Senate. Rather than…

(BALTIMORE – May 19, 2026) – My take on the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent Voting Rights decision. There is a dangerous illusion growing in American constitutional law that racial discrimination somehow disappears when it is relabeled as politics. It does not. When electoral maps are deliberately designed to weaken the political power of communities that are overwhelmingly Black and overwhelmingly aligned politically, the constitutional injury does not become less real simply because the mechanism used is partisan gerrymandering instead of otherwise open racial exclusion. Our Constitution was designed to protect its citizens, not semantics or “old shell game” tactics. For…

(BALTIMORE – May 17, 2026) – For years, residents of Edmondson Village have been told redevelopment was coming. We were told it would improve our quality of life, strengthen the corridor, and breathe new energy into West Baltimore. But increasingly, many longtime residents are asking a simple question: Redevelopment for whom? Let me be clear: no one is against redevelopment of the Edmondson Village Shopping Center. We understand the need for investment. We understand that communities evolve. What many of us oppose is a process that feels disconnected from the people who actually live here. On May 14, 2026, during…

(BALTIMORE – May 8, 2026) – Baltimore has heard this before—new leadership, new plans, new promises. The language changes. Too often, the outcomes do not. For too many of our children, school still means reading below grade level, struggling in math, and feeling disconnected from a system that should be opening doors. Despite years of investment and effort, that reality has not changed enough. Now, with the appointment of Dr. Jermaine Dawson, Baltimore has another opportunity. But this moment must be different. Baltimore does not need another strategic plan. It needs a clear public commitment to what will change—and how…