#baltimorecity

I think it's safe to say that the Rev and I love Keiffer Mitchell.  Imagine being him, growing up in Baltimore, in the Mitchell family, one of the Baltimore's most prominant families, the expectations that they all always live up to.

Public service is how they do it...for Keiffer it started with 12 years in the City Council, 1995 throught 2007 and then served in our legilature and went on to serve as a close advisor to former Governor Larry Hogan. 

What was it like to grow up in the Mitchell Family, come along for the ride and learn what it was like to grow up as Keiffer Mitchell, a Boy's Latin Laker Alumni, a former History teacher at that great institution.

Keiffer lays it all out there, he's a Baltimore treasure, from the days at the Farmers Market hand sqeezing Oranges to the days of running for Mayor, and finally as Chief of Staff basically running the State..Keiffer is one of Baltimore's best Ambassadors and this conversation is cool and refreshing...

In 1999 and in 2005, he was voted Baltimore's "Best Politician" by Baltimore City Paper. Among his community activities are membership on the Echo Hill Outdoor School Board, the Family Tree Board, the Habitat for Humanity Board, and the Board of Trustees of the Boys' Latin School. A lifelong parishioner at Sharp Street United Methodist Church, he lives in Baltimore's historic Bolton Hill, where he serves on the board of his neighborhood association.

Keiffer Mitchell, living the life of a Mitchell in our great city.  Thanks Keiffer, for all you have done for Baltimore,keep rolling..

Friends, this is a great conversation....

Enjoy!

 

 

 

We are back and we have 4 shows lined up for the opening of Season 4. We have some amazing guests coming out over the next four weeks and we are very excited for Season 4.  Following todays post with Rebecca Hoffberger we have three more great Marylanders, Keiffer Mitchell, Pat Moran and James Williams of the Amerrican Cancer Society.  Stay tuned for these Tuesday  releases over the next few weeks as we get in the studio with some great new guests.

It's so great to Welcome the great Rebecca Hoffberger.  A visionary for the Visionaries, Visionary Artists that is, she's established one of the most unique treasured Museums in the Country. Rebecca is someone that Rev. Al and I have both known for a long time. She was married to an incredible man who also had vision the late Leroy Hoffberger, father to one of my best friends Doug Hoffberger... Smaltimore...

Rebecca has done an incredible job with the American Visionary Arts Museum, how about this fact, AVAM is second to the BMA when it comes to visitors and that's saying something given the incredible Museums we have in Baltimore.  Rebecca is gifted and she has the most beautiful soul, she's traveled the world and worked with some incredible minds.   A life-long devotee of the power of intuition and fresh thought, Hoffberger was accepted into college at age 15 though chose instead the personal invitation of internationally renowned mime Marcel Marceau, to become his first American apprentice in Paris.

By 19, Rebecca had co-founded her own ballet company and by 21, was a sought-after consultant to a broad spectrum of nonprofits, including research and development scientific companies. At 25, she was awarded the title of “Dame” for her work to establish medical field hospitals in Nigeria. She studied alternative and folk medicine in Mexico. Returning to the States, Hoffberger served on the Board of the Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Center in Virginia and worked as Development Director at the Sinai Hospital’s Department of Psychiatry for People Encouraging People, where she first conceived her unique national visionary museum/education center. In recognition of this distinguished achievement in the museum field, Hoffberger was awarded the 2011 Katherine Coffey Award by the Mid-Atlantic Association of Museums. Hoffberger has received Honorary Doctorates from the Maryland Institute College of Art, Stevenson University, Pennsylvania College of Art and Design, and McDaniel College, as well as awarded Loyola College's Andrew White Award—the school’s highest civic honor—the College of Notre Dame Sarah's Circle Award, and was selected as Franklin & Marshall College's Conrad Nelson Lecturer. She is an inductee into the Maryland Women's Hall of Fame, a winner of the Urban Land Institute's National Award for Excellence, Israel Bonds' Golda Meir Award, and the first recipient of the Sir Arthur C. Clarke Vision and Imagination Award.

Any questions, we get into lots of things, there's so much to talk about, both Rev. Al and I are thrilled to know and call Rebecca a good friend.  Thanks Rebecca!

You're gonna love this one!

Enjoy!

 

 

One of things we love about this experience is the opportunity to bring to light organizations that are doing amazing work throughout the City, this episode we have Bernand Foster who is the Executive Director of the Tuerk House and he has overseen and been a part of tremendous growth since he came on board in 2011. 

Founded in 1970, the concept of drug and alcohol treatment was forever changed with the founding of this dynamic organization.   Dr. Isadore Tuerk, then the commissioner of Maryland State Department of Health and Mental Hygiene—knew there was a more collaborative, compassionate way to help people find lifelong healing and recovery. From their vision, Tuerk House was born. Today, our non-profit drug and alcohol treatment system serves nearly 300 patients a day, regardless of their ability to pay, through an innovative, integrated model of care that encompasses all aspects of recovery.

300 patients a day that's alot of people they are serving with four centers open, the biggest and most active in the City. All of this is made possible by the incredible leadership team and all of the dedicated workers that are providing hope for these patients in neeed.  Wait until you learn about their leader, Bernard Foster, who believe's God sent him here to do this work, and one thing I can tell you is Thank God for Bernard Foster, who opens up and brings along on his journey to do Gods work. 

Thanks to Bernard Foster and his team, doing God's work!  Enjoy!

 

 

Wow, every once and a while we bring forward these great organizations from the heart our our community and they are doing amazing work, right in our backyard.  Walter Billips and Earl El Amin are doing the work that's helping turn peoples lives in the right direction. 

NCIA, The program runs five traning courses for incredible jobs that can provide for a great living and everyone of them allows the skills possesor to do what they do nearly anywhere in the world. 

Let's take note, HVAC/R, Automobile Repair. Drones, Commercial Drivers Training, CDL, and Culinary Arts.  They have a great group of choices for those that enter the program do the hard work, and end up in jobs in our community.  They enjoy great relationships with other non profits in the City such as DCREP, District Court Re-Entry Program, and they are super focused on members of the population that are returning citizens with a real focus on Veterns returning to the workforce.

Nothing comes for free, these programs give people an opoortunity, skills are where its at.

What a joy it was to welcome these guys, we are both interested in the programs we would love to help hire people from this program and our next talk is going to be there when the Rev and I pay them a visit. I am excited to see this exciting program in action. 

Rev. and Earl are familiar faces in the community and Walters doing the lords work out there. Tune in for a great discussion that's shines the light on NCIA and the incredible people that work there and the work they are doing. 

Gentlemen, thanks for catching up and thanks for giving men and women a second chance and a fresh start. 

Here we go wiith another great interview in Las Vegas at the ICSC Maryland Pool Party. 

We start off with Bill Henry, our Comptroller for the City of Baltimore, a Baltimore native and a man who has served our City for many years.  Bill gradualted HS class of 86' at Loyola Blakefield.  He served three terms as Baltimore's City Councilman representing the 4th District.  He loves revitalizing neighborhoods not only in his district but around the City.  He comes to the world of politics naturally because his father spent a life time running campaigns.  A mentor to Rev. Al, Bill's father sincerely beleived that you could make difference.  This trait passed along to Bill and he has run with it.  The man is totally prepared for the work he has taken on, Hopkins undergrad for Urban Studies and Loyola MBA with a concentration in Finance.  He's passionate about his job and he is working to bring the Comptrollers office into the 21st century.

This incredible conversation exposes the love he has for our City, we are lucky to have him.  It's not long before we are joined by Councilman Eric Costello, in his third term representing the mighty 11th District which consists of 24 individual neighborhoods and stretches from Fort McHenry all the way to Mt Vernon with alot going on.  Councilman Costello has established himself as the model Councilman, his sense of urgency is awesome and he always comes through for his constituents.

Two men, one from Baltimore and one from NY, both passionate workers for the betterment of our City. Thanks to both of them for taking time to speak with us during this incredible busy day for Elected officials in Las Vegas. 

 

We hit a high point for Holiness on this day when we welcomed Dr. Frank Lance, the President and CEO of the venerable Parks and People Foundation and Sr. Pastor at Mount Lebanon Baptist Church.

We talk about everything Parks and People and the amazing work that this tranformative organization is doing all over Baltimore City.  There's not a neighborhood out there that hasn't been improved by this organization.  Serving thousands of residents and hundreds of kids it is the Parks and People Foundation that is holding our cities Park system together and adding green space for residents all over the city.  Workforce development and training on how to maintain landscapes, Summer camps for hundreds of kids, keeping a sharp focus on improving our City's park system, one of the largest in the country.

Frank, the Pastor of the Church right across the street from the new Parks and People HQ at Druid Hill Park had made his way onto the Board and then Board Chair Matt Kostmayer saw the light and approached Frank about filling the open position for CEO.  Matt says its the "Smartest move ever" and the Board agreed and its been 4 great years since he took over. 

With a steady hand at the till the Foundation continues it's growth making Baltimore a healthier and greener place for all residents. Frank understood the energy of the Founder the great Sally Michel who was the force behind making this organization happen when Mayor Schaefer challenged a group of supporters to rally around our Parks. 

Tune into this great conversation, it's Spring and our People are returning to our Parks, all made better by the great work of this incredible institution. Thanks Frank Lance for stepping up and thanks for all you and your staff are doing to make our Park System the best it can be. 

 

Rev. Al and I so excited about this episode, the Mayor and Rev. go back a long ways, both graduates of City Collge High School, and both leaders in this community since their High Schools Days. 

An amazing athlete Kurt Schmoke lead the City Knights to Championships two years while he was in High School, Junior and Senior year.  One of his mentors was George Young, a man who went on to run the New York Giants, he helped Kurt set his sights high and was pivitol in his journey to Yale.

Kurt remembers wanting to be Mayor back to his early days in High School inspired by then Mayor Tommy Dellasandro during a speech at school. 

A graduate of Yale undergrad and Harvard Law School and as a Rhodes Scholar he landed himself in Oxford for two years.  In High School he was a member of the famed Boys Club the Lancers.  As a Lancer he traveled the world and it opened his eyes to cultures all over the world.  He didn't get smaller he got bigger, and before you know it he was Baltimore's States Attorney and eventually its Mayor, where he served three terms  While Mayor he focused on making Baltimore "The City that Reads" and he tore down and rebuilt every multi-story public housing project in Baltimore. 

As the President of UB he lends his experience and his vision for a new Station North which is underway with UB playing a real role in the redevelopement and repositioning land in the immediate area as construction begins on Baltimore's New state of the art Train Station along with UB's redevelopment of the US Post Office site adjacent to the campus. 

A man raised in the public schools here in Baltimore he shows us what's possible with good parents and good mentors in life. Thanks Mayor Schmoke, for all you have done over the years, thanks for what you are doing now, this was a great conversation, we thank you for your time!

 

 

 

Reverand Al  and I have been waiting to get this one out there for this special occasion as this program celebrates it's 8th Graduation this Wednesday November 30th at 11:30.

The District Court Re-Entry Project provides options to Baltimore City District Court Judges to select to send someone to one of 17 training programs across a multitude of industries.  The intended outcome is providing defendants with skills that lead to a job in Baltimore's workforce.  With over 165 men and women as graduates and a very small rate of recitivism, this program has captured the attention of our elected officals in Annapolis, especially Senator Cory McCray who knows a "Fire Starter" when he see's one.

He and Judge Pastore teamed up, got legislation crafted and passed so that this program could hone it's work and become a model across the state. 

I have known Judge Pastore for over 30 years and I met Cory about 6 years ago, you've got two people here that love themsleves some Baltimore, born and raised here they both call it home. Both have run for political office, Nicki was spared buy a small amount of votes, the Universe had bigger idea's for her energy.  This is her baby and it arrose because defendants were complaining about the lack of jobs. Nicki, the consumate fixer thought of giving them skills and sparing the State the cost of incarceration.  It's a labor of love for the Judge and I know alot of hard work has gone into making the program a reality.  No one works harder on these graduations.. 

It's working, and this Wednesday in Partnership with the Baltimore Ravens, Jermaine Lewis will be there to inspire the graduates on their new journey and turn this Court Appearance into one that is positive, lifts people and provides pride and dignity for those getting their graduation certificate.

Listen in and learn.  Thanks to Senator McCray and Judge Pastore for coming in to spread the good news, it's Holy work! 

 

 

 

Rev Al and I get finally get to talk healthcare.  We couldn't be more pleased to have Ed Lovern, the CEO of Ascension St. Agnes join us for a a great talk that hits wide range of topics. We started things off with a quick lesson on how to say his name...say Govern, now replace the G with an L and you've got it down. 

Ed's not from Baltimore, but he has quickly made his mark as the CEO of Ascensions only asset in this market.  Ascension is an amazing company, in fact they are the largest Catholic Healthcare system in the Country with over 151 Hospitals.  Despite the largess of the Mother ship, Ed's leadership style has kept the Community based culture that St. Agnus was always associated with in tact  Right in the heart of Southwest Baltimore St. Agnus is in a growth mode as the city and county's around it continue to grow.

Ed's a peoples leader, he leads by example and places himself on the ground with his employee's on a weekly basis.  Working through workforce challenges and maintaining some of Baltimore best Doctors is a formula that keeps people from the sourounding communities walking through he door.

Ed Lovern, thanks for coming in and thanks so much for embracing our community and our Beloved Baltimore!

You are offically Holy!

Rev. Al and I are so excited to welcome Isabel Cummings, Baltimore's Inspector General. The office was created by Martin O'Malley in 2005 with the idea of creating an independant internal watch dog to investigate City Operations.  Isabel works for every City resident to ensure our tax dollars are being spent properly.  "Nobody is off Limits" and that has been the case as Isabel directs her office to root out fraud where ever it may be. Seems like a never ending job in a City like Baltimore.  Isabel get's her inspiration from the Sun each day with a picture she post's on her social media.  She's the proud mother Joey Jett a budding entreprenuer and of one of the best Skate boarder's on the planet, when she's not busting criminals you can find her at the Skate Park cheering on her son. Isabel walks us through her world, she's a fierce defender of Baltimore City and the taxpayer's.  Enjoy an hour or so discussion about her passion for rooting out fraud and holding our elected officials and city workers accountable. Thanks Isabel for all of yourt hard work! Keep rolling!