By: Jennifer Aufill

On Monday evening, Dr. Wen joined community leaders, government officials, and nonprofit partners from across Baltimore for a White House event entitled: “The Front Lines of Social Innovation,” which highlighted how local efforts can advance innovation and address social inequality.

During the event, Dr. Wen spoke about the challenges that Baltimore faces, and what BCHD has done to combat deep-rooted problems of inequality, poverty, and racism, including efforts to combat infant mortality, address opioid overdose, and expand vision care for youth.

In 2009, Baltimore had one of the worst infant mortality rates in the United States. However, the Health Department led over 150 public and private partners, including businesses, hospitals, and faith organizations, to develop B’More for Healthy Babies. This program, which delivers cribs, arranges home visits, and promotes safe sleep measures, has helped drop Baltimore’s infant mortality rate by 28% over the last 6 years.

Dr. Wen also spoke about the city’s innovative efforts to combat the opioid epidemic, noting that year after year, more people in Baltimore die from overdose than from homicide. That is why she declared opioid overdose a public health emergency, and issued a standing order to expand access of the opioid antidote naloxone to all of Baltimore City’s 620,000 residents. She articulated that these public health efforts are guided by a similar philosophy: that the best way to positively impact the city is by partnering with community to “go to where people are” and deliver critical services to those most in need.

This was also the philosophy behind the launch of “Vision for Baltimore,” a citywide strategy to ensure that students across Baltimore City elementary and middle schools have universal access to glasses.  Far too many children across Baltimore continue to lack proper vision care and have difficulty reading, which in turn leads to stunted educational outcomes and  discourages lifelong learning. Through this pioneering initiative, BCHD is working with public and private partners from across the country to bring these essential learning tools to students during the school day to improve performance, engagement, and opportunity.

BCHD strives to expand social innovation through collaborations with local partners and by serving as a key convener of anchor institutions to transform Baltimore into a hub of opportunity. “We don’t want Baltimore to be as good as other cities,” Dr. Wen said. “We aspire for Baltimore to be the model that others look to around the country and around the world.”

The Front Lines of Social Innovation