By Victoria Mejicanos
AFRO Staff Writer
vmejicanos@afro.com
The Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office will host its annual Legislative Engagement, Advocacy, Resource and Networking (L.E.A.R.N.) tour every other Wednesday evening during the month of October. The sessions will take place from 6 to 8 p.m. at locations throughout the city.
At these listening sessions, constituents will be able to share their thoughts and concerns directly with State’s Attorney Ivan Bates ahead of the 2026 legislative session.
In a statement to the AFRO, James E. Bentley II, chief of communications for the State’s Attorney’s Office, said that “The Legislative Engagement, Advocacy, and Resource Networking (L.E.A.R.N.) tour is an annual community-based program that State’s Attorney Bates and his team implemented in 2023 to educate the residents of Baltimore about the legislative agenda the State’s Attorney’s Office plans to introduce in the upcoming legislative session.”
“More importantly,” Bentley continued, “The L.E.A.R.N. tour provides an opportunity for the State’s Attorney and his team to hear directly from residents on the issues that they want to see addressed through policy that the office could champion in the Maryland General Assembly.”
The first meeting will take place on Oct. 1 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Francis Scott Key Elementary and Middle School, located at 1425 E. Fort Avenue. The West Baltimore event will take place on Oct. 15, with the East Baltimore session taking place on Oct. 29.
Bentley wrote that the event “enables city and state agencies to disseminate information to the community through vendors participating in the event,” and allows “groups looking to advocate for the passage of common-sense public safety legislation to inform community residents of their legislative priorities as well.”