March 20, 2005: Headlines: Directors - Shriver: Shriver Peaceworker: Baltimore: Shriver Center: Baltimore Sun: Sargent Shriver Peaceworker Fellow Adam Donaldson writes "Learning to believe in Baltimore - and appreciate its charms"

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By Admin1 (admin) (pool-151-196-181-108.balt.east.verizon.net - 151.196.181.108) on Saturday, March 26, 2005 - 2:44 am: Edit Post

Sargent Shriver Peaceworker Fellow Adam Donaldson writes "Learning to believe in Baltimore - and appreciate its charms"

Sargent Shriver Peaceworker Fellow  Adam Donaldson writes Learning to believe in Baltimore - and appreciate its charms

Sargent Shriver Peaceworker Fellow Adam Donaldson writes "Learning to believe in Baltimore - and appreciate its charms"

Learning to believe in Baltimore - and appreciate its charms

By Adam Donaldson
Originally published March 20, 2005
IS A NEW evangelism sweeping Baltimore?

When I first arrived last summer as a graduate student interested in serving poor kids in a poor city, it seemed that wherever I looked I saw cars with the same sticker. Multiple offices and public buildings flew banners proclaiming the same message. Pinned on backpacks and even business suits were black buttons with the starkly written word "BELIEVE" in white letters.

I'm not talking about religion. I'm talking about community service. When a new classmate invited me to volunteer to repair bathrooms at an elementary school, I then learned that BELIEVE spoke of a different fervor. I was impressed to learn of the city's campaign to engage citizens in taking responsibility for their public schools.

In his latest State of the City speech, Mayor Martin O'Malley summarized the efforts of his Believe in Our Schools campaign. About 5,700 volunteers worked 40,000 hours to help paint 2 million square feet of classrooms and hallways, he reported.

Critics, shhh! We all know that open wiring and broken windows still exist in our classrooms. We know that the surfaces of our high school track fields have ankle-swallowing holes. We know that schools are too large, textbooks unavailable, teachers undertrained and security shaky. Public rallies in Baltimore and Annapolis decry administrative waste and broken school-funding promises.

But volunteers are working hard - quietly and deliberately - to help the schools and Baltimore's students. A welder left his top-scale union pay to start a mentoring program for boys. Universities now offer free tuition to students from the city. I could embarrass someone by naming who secretly shoveled snow from his neighborhood school's walkway.

Mayor O'Malley has done well using the BELIEVE campaign, following the precedent of William Donald Schaefer's "Baltimore is Best." Mr. O'Malley's idealism articulates the key to Baltimore's prosperity - the sports-fan, sentimental pride of its native citizens.

Strangers to Baltimore hear plenty about the John Hopkins' medical campus and Camden Yards, but unfortunately they listen more to crime reports and statistics of homes abandoned to cat-killing rats. After all, what city besides New York has had so many crime shows situated in it? When I moved to the city, my car insurance company raised my rates and warned me to get a club device.

The insurance company did not prepare me for the pride that some in Baltimore would use to celebrate the colorful and tough image of their city. Baltimoreans do not love their tall buildings, but they savor Mount Vernon Square and the authentic Washington Monument. They revel in the particular speech of neighborhoods, and every "hon" gives them goose bumps. At night, some drivers gaze admiringly at the neon "Domino Sugars" sign and think home.

Baltimore natives would not want an outsider to tell them how to improve their schools or their city. They are skeptical of changes not homegrown in their own streets.

But what amazes me is how quickly newcomers adopt the city and the city adopts them.

I find myself defending Baltimore's charms, even the Formstone rowhouses.

The Believe in Our Schools campaign will work if Mayor O'Malley stays on message. He misunderstood when he ended his State of the City address by calling Baltimore the "Greatest City in America." We all would be happier if it was simply the "Great City of Baltimore."

Adam Donaldson is the Sargent Shriver Peaceworker Fellow at the Johns Hopkins Institute for Policy Studies.





When this story was posted in March 2005, this was on the front page of PCOL:


Peace Corps Online The Independent News Forum serving Returned Peace Corps Volunteers

The Peace Corps Library Date: February 7 2005 No: 438 The Peace Corps Library
Peace Corps Online is proud to announce that the Peace Corps Library is now available online. With over 30,000 index entries in over 500 categories, this is the largest collection of Peace Corps related reference material in the world. From Acting to Zucchini, you can use the Main Index to find hundreds of stories about RPCVs who have your same interests, who served in your Country of Service, or who serve in your state.

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Crisis Corps arrives in Thailand Date: March 20 2005 No: 530 Crisis Corps arrives in Thailand
After the Tsunami in Southeast Asia last December, Peace Corps issued an appeal for Crisis Corps Volunteers and over 200 RPCVs responded. The first team of 8 Crisis Corps volunteers departed for Thailand on March 18 to join RPCVs who are already supporting relief efforts in Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, and India with other agencies and NGO's. 19 Mar 2005

March's Feature Stories - only on PCOL Date: March 20 2005 No: 523 March's Feature Stories - only on PCOL
Dream Come True - Revisiting India after 34 years
The Coyne Column: Read Winning Vanity Fair PCV Essay
Tomas Belsky's paintings inspired by service in Brazil
RPCV reunites with friend after 40 years
RPCV reviews "Los Heraldos Negros" by Cesar Vallejo
Photo Essay: Taking it to the Streets


March 19, 2005: RPCV Groups in the News Date: March 20 2005 No: 525 March 19, 2005: RPCV Groups in the News
New Jersey RPCVs host exhibit in Maplewood on April 2 20 Mar
Maryland RPCVs eat crab cakes in Annapolis 17 Mar
Illinois RPCVs present "Life on the Big Red Island" 13 Mar
San Diego RPCVs host reception with Gaddi Vasquez on March 6 4 Mar
Western North Carolina's RPCVs sponsor Africa Night on March 6 3 Mar
Connecticut RPCVs held fundraiser on March 5 3 Mar
RPCVs: Post your stories or press releases here for inclusion next week.

March 19, 2005: This Week's Top Stories Date: March 20 2005 No: 526 March 19, 2005: This Week's Top Stories
RPCV points out catalytic effect of Iraq 19 Mar
PCVs set up Basketball pool in Ukraine 19 Mar
Sam Farr introduces bill to monitor ocean fisheries 18 Mar
Bridgeland does not rule out run for Congress 18 Mar
Jim Doyle promotes Institute for Discovery 18 Mar
Newspaper says Bangladesh is safe for PCVs 18 Mar
Joan Ruddiman revisits Peter Hessler's "River World" 17 Mar
Mark Schneider says Save Haiti from more violence 17 Mar
Troy Johnson joins delegation to Indonesia 17 Mar
Chris Shays says baseball not exempt from the law 17 Mar
"Hurlyburly" benefits gypsy women in Romania 15 Mar
Chris Matthews interviews Schwarzenegger 14 Mar
Fred Burke dies in NJ, trained early PCVs 13 Mar
Mike Honda introduces Student Privacy Protection Act 13 Mar
FT details Cheney-McPherson relationship 13 Mar
Tucker McCravy reports on Tsunami Reconstruction 10 Mar
Dennis Braddock retires with record of accomplishment 9 Mar

RPCVs in Congress ask colleagues to support PC Date: March 5 2005 No: 482 RPCVs in Congress ask colleagues to support PC
RPCVs Sam Farr, Chris Shays, Thomas Petri, James Walsh, and Mike Honda have asked their colleagues in Congress to add their names to a letter they have written to the House Foreign Operations Subcommittee, asking for full funding of $345 M for the Peace Corps in 2006. As a follow-on to Peace Corps week, please read the letter and call your Representative in Congress and ask him or her to add their name to the letter.

Add your info now to the RPCV Directory Date: March 13 2005 No: 489 Add your info now to the RPCV Directory
Call Harris Publishing at 800-414-4608 right away to add your name or make changes to your listing in the newest edition of the NPCA's Directory of Peace Corps Volunteers and Former Staff. Then read our story on how you can get access to the book after it is published. The deadline for inclusion is May 16 so call now.

March 1: National Day of Action Date: February 28 2005 No: 471 March 1: National Day of Action
Tuesday, March 1, is the NPCA's National Day of Action. Please call your Senators and ask them to support the President's proposed $27 Million budget increase for the Peace Corps for FY2006 and ask them to oppose the elimination of Perkins loans that benefit Peace Corps volunteers from low-income backgrounds. Follow this link for step-by-step information on how to make your calls. Then take our poll and leave feedback on how the calls went.
Make a call for the Peace Corps Date: February 19 2005 No: 453 Make a call for the Peace Corps
PCOL is a strong supporter of the NPCA's National Day of Action and encourages every RPCV to spend ten minutes on Tuesday, March 1 making a call to your Representatives and ask them to support President Bush's budget proposal of $345 Million to expand the Peace Corps. Take our Poll: Click here to take our poll. We'll send out a reminder and have more details early next week.


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Story Source: Baltimore Sun

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; Directors - Shriver; Shriver Peaceworker; Baltimore; Shriver Center

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By Anonymous (dialup-4.89.241.113.dial1.dallas1.level3.net - 4.89.241.113) on Saturday, July 02, 2005 - 5:40 pm: Edit Post

I have just completed Scott Stossel's "SARGE" and was both delighted and surprised at all of Sargent Shriver's accomplishments...many "behind the scenes". I was a highschooler in the sixties, with a sibling (brother) who was mentally retarded. (I remember seeing Mr. Shriver in the lobby of a hotel I worked at in Scottsdale, AZ and being told who he was.) I'm now a middle-aged single mom with a son who is mentally retarded. It's wonderful to know that programs such as Special Olympics and Peace Corps are still part of our world.


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