On March 12, Civic Frame, a national nonprofit organization, will roll out the second installment of their community discussion series “Amplify Baltimore.” The quarterly forum was launched in January and combines local leaders with residents of the community to discuss some of the city’s most challenging issues.
The day will begin with a continental breakfast, followed by a discussion on public education at 10 a.m. During this segment, participants will get a chance to interact with figures such as, Dr. Walter G. Amprey, former superintendent of Baltimore City Public Schools, Neil Duke, chair of the Baltimore City Board of School Commissioners and Sonja Brookins Santelises, chief academic officer of Baltimore City Public Schools, in addition to many others.
Lunch will commence at noon, followed by a discussion on workforce and economic development with Jason Perkins-Cohen of the Job Opportunities Task Force.
Concluding the event will be a forum on financial literacy, capability and security and asset building with representatives from the Maryland Foundation, the Baltimore Green Currency Association, the Maryland CASH Campaign and many others set to participate.
The series is the brainchild of Baltimore native April Yvonne Garrett, who is Civic Frame’s founder and president. Since 2002, Garret has worked with Civic Frame to encourage civic participation through media arts and critical thinking on a national platform. She explained to the AFRO in December that she created “Amplify Baltimore” after realizing that the city was in need of this type of event.
“Every city has something absolutely exquisite about it and I think that there are so many things exquisite about Baltimore,” Garret told the AFRO before the series’ launch. “But we as a people have to have a collective will to highlight those things, stand for those things and push them forward.”
For more information and a complete schedule of ‘Amplify Baltimore,’ visit: www.civicframe.org.