Community

(2025) Addressing Dog Bite Injuries to Children In Baltimore

Faculty Partner: Meghan Davis, PhD, MPH, DVM, Associate Professor, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health 

City Agency/Government Partner: Jennifer Brause, Executive Director, Baltimore Animal Rescue & Care Shelter (BARCS)

Description: This project aims to identify key factors and bite prevention approaches to better characterize pediatric dog bites in the Baltimore area to inform dog-sensitive, community-relevant interventions to address such injuries. There is high potential for success if prevention programs that target dog owners and parents of city children are incorporated into routine outreach activities through BARCS.

(2025) Building Capacity for Pedestrian Safety In Southeast Baltimore

Faculty Partner: Elise Omaki, Senior Research Associate, Department of Health Policy and Management, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health 

City Agency/Government Partner: Delegate Robbyn Lewis, Chair, Subcommittee on Land Use & Ethics, House Chair, Joint Committee on Program Open Space & Agricultural Land Preservation

Description: This project aims to design and launch a plan to evaluate the Livable Streets Coalition. This project will result in a report for Delegate Lewis’ office, which will document the Coalition’s strengths and opportunities and offer strategic and actionable recommendations for Delegate Lewis to advance pedestrian safety in East and Southeast Baltimore. The evaluation report will help formalize the Coalition’s mission and position Delegate Lewis to advocate for funding in road traffic safety projects along the Fayette-Orleans corridor.

(2025) Partnering with Baltimore City Fire Department to Increase Access to 311

Faculty Partner: Wendy Shields, Senior Scientist, Department of Health Policy and Management, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

City Agency/Government Partner: Shana Haughton, Fire Lieutenant, Baltimore City Fire Department

Description: This project aims to expand public knowledge of and access to the existing free smoke alarm installation services through 311. This work will include writing a grant in partnership with the BCFD to FEMA regarding expanding their fire prevention supplies to include carbon monoxide alarms and the creation of new infrastructure, policies, and procedures around 311 referrals from the Johns Hopkins Hospital to BCFD. Other activities include a literature scan and an internal report.

(2023) CLIA’s Youth and Adult Partnership with the Baltimore City Local Health Improvement Coalition (LHIC)

Faculty Partner: Tamar Mendelson, Bloomberg Professor of American Health, Director, Center for Adolescent Health (CAH), Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health 

City Agency/Government Partner: Rashad Staton, Executive Director, The Community Law in Action (CLIA)

Description: This project aims to develop a process that provides committees and programs to equitably include and integrate youth as part of their leadership for Baltimore City. Within this proposed project, a process will be developed to include Baltimore City youth as a part of the Social Determinants of Health (SODH) working group of the LHIC.

(2020) African American Male Engagement (AAME) and My Brother’s Keeper – Baltimore

Faculty Partner: Philip Leaf, PhD, MS, Professor, Department of Mental Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

City Agency/Government Partner: Andrey Bundley, EdD, Baltimore City Mayor's Office of Children and Family Success

Description: This project aims to create more positive opportunities and outcomes for boys and young men of color, especially African American males. This collaboration will focus on identifying programs in Baltimore already positively supporting the lives and trajectories of boys and young men of color, and to aid in the linkage of agencies and community-based programming for continued and improved support, particularly in Park Heights. The requests for support and partnership came directly from the Mayor’s Office of African American Male Engagement (AAME) and the Mayor’s Office of Children and Family Success (MOCFS).

(2020) Implementing Healing City Baltimore

Faculty Partner: David Bishai, PhD, MD, MPH, Professor, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health 

City Government Partner: Tisha Edwards, Executive Director, Mayor's Office of Children and Family Success, Baltimore City Office of the Mayor

Description: The Elijah Cummings Healing City Act (ECHCA) went into effect on March 10, 2020. It provides for the creation of a Trauma Informed Care Task Force with members from city agencies and the community, training in trauma-informed care for city employees, and a review of current trauma-related policies and procedures across city agencies. This project will assist the Mayor’s Office of Children and Family Success (MOCFS) in implementing the ECHCA and engaging the community and city agencies in a systems approach to executing the provisions of the legislation.

(2020) Impact of Baltimore City’s Dockless Vehicle Program on Mobility and Equity

Faculty Partner: Johnathon Ehsani, Assistant Professor, Department of Health Policy and Management, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health 

City Agency/Government Partner: Meg Young, Shared Mobility Coordinator, Baltimore City Department of Transportation

Description: Baltimore City has one of the nation’s most progressive policies on equitable access to dockless vehicles, requiring vendors to redistribute their vehicles on a daily basis to twenty high priority mobility zones. The proposed research will evaluate the impact of Baltimore City’s dockless vehicle program on mobility and equity. Findings will allow city officials to understand the impact of the equity zone policy and refine the regulation in the upcoming legislative session to further advance their goal of improving mobility in underserved areas.

(2020) Dirt Beneath Our Feet

Faculty Partner: Katalin Szlavecz, Research Professor, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Johns Hopkins Krieger School of Arts & Sciences 

City Agency/Government Partner: Michael Braverman, Commissioner, Baltimore City Department of Housing and Community Development

Description: The goal of the proposed study is to characterize risks and identify potential beneficial uses of vacant lots by conducting a large scale environmental assessment focusing on of urban soil health. To achieve this, soil health will be assessed in 200 vacant lots by a combination of in situ soil screening as well as laboratory analyses.