Exploring Innovative Solutions to Community Challenges

A three-episode pod­cast series — fund­ed by the Annie E. Casey Foun­da­tion and pro­duced by Lemon­a­da Media — delves into inno­v­a­tive solu­tions to com­mu­ni­ty chal­lenges. Fea­tured on Good Things and host­ed by Glo­ria Riv­iera, the series high­lights youth entre­pre­neur­ship, com­mu­ni­ty safe­ty and alter­na­tive high schools.

Youth Entre­pre­neur­ship: Build­ing Baltimore’s Future

Reshap­ing Work­force Devel­op­ment in Bal­ti­more, a 2017 Foun­da­tion report, found that young peo­ple in Bal­ti­more aspire to build busi­ness­es and give back to their com­mu­ni­ties. To sup­port this vision, the Foun­da­tion part­nered with Cop­pin State University’s Cen­ter for Strate­gic Entre­pre­neur­ship to launch the Excel­lence in Entre­pre­neur­ial Learn­ing (EXCEL) research project in 2023. The part­ner­ship sought to iden­ti­fy the kinds of entre­pre­neur­ship-relat­ed instruc­tion avail­able to young peo­ple in the city. It pro­duced the find­ings in Equip­ping Bal­ti­more Youth & Emerg­ing Adults for Oppor­tu­ni­ty (2024).

In this March 4 episode, Sara Coop­er, senior asso­ciate with the Foundation’s Eco­nom­ic Oppor­tu­ni­ty unit, and Dr. Ron Williams, direc­tor of Coppin’s Cen­ter for Strate­gic Entre­pre­neur­ship, dis­cussed the 2024 report find­ings and what’s next for fos­ter­ing youth entre­pre­neur­ship in Baltimore.

Com­mu­ni­ty Safe­ty: Inno­va­tions Trans­form­ing Neighborhoods 

Safe com­mu­ni­ties are essen­tial for young peo­ple to thrive. How­ev­er, many young peo­ple grow up in neigh­bor­hoods marred by vio­lence, which inflicts trau­ma that can last a life­time. The Casey Foun­da­tion invests in a pub­lic health approach to com­mu­ni­ty safe­ty and address­es the issue with pre­ven­tion strate­gies shaped by com­mu­ni­ty input.

In this March 11 episode, Tim­me­ka Perkins, the Casey Foundation’s lead on com­mu­ni­ty safe­ty invest­ments, and DeVone Bog­gan, founder and CEO of Advance Peace, dis­cussed how com­mu­ni­ty vio­lence inter­ven­tion strate­gies are break­ing cycles of gun vio­lence nationwide.

Drop­ping in After Drop­ping Out: Giv­ing Stu­dents Anoth­er Chance (March 18)

In 2022, 2.1 mil­lion young peo­ple between the ages of 16 and 24 had not earned their high school diplo­mas. This episode high­lights how alter­na­tive learn­ing mod­els, like Good­will Excel Cen­ter, keep stu­dents engaged and on the path to suc­cess, empha­siz­ing the need to rethink how edu­ca­tion sys­tems sup­port them.

In this March 18 episode, Alli­son Ger­ber, vice pres­i­dent of Casey’s Cen­ter for Eco­nom­ic Oppor­tu­ni­ty, and Bet­sy Del­ga­do, senior vice pres­i­dent of Good­will Excel Cen­ter, dis­cuss how flex­i­ble edu­ca­tion mod­els pro­vide wrap­around ser­vices — child care, trans­porta­tion assis­tance, men­tal health ser­vices, life coach­ing and work-based-learn­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties — to meet the com­plex needs of stu­dents earn­ing high school diplo­mas and prepar­ing for the workforce.

Read about Casey’s com­mu­ni­ty change work