October 13, 2015
Tour Stop: Teavolve (Baltimore, MD)
Attendees: A panel of minority Baltimore City leaders, including Kevin Shird, president of the Educate One Foundation, and Wes Moore, founder of BridgeEdU and author of The Other Wes Moore
Highlights: Chancellor Caret, Wes Moore, and Kevin Shird led a conversation about the burdens inner-city youth from impoverished backgrounds face:
Wes Moore stressed importance of a "social contract" of networking support and mentorships that is routine for majority students but rare for diverse students from poor backgrounds.
Tour Stop: The Center Club (Baltimore, MD)
Attendees: SECU CEO Rod Staatz, Michael Cryor, director of OneBaltimore, Visit Baltimore President Tom Noonan, Baltimore City business leaders, Greater Baltimore Committee Chairman Donald Fry, USM Regents Michelle Gourdine, David Kinkopf, Louise Michaux Gonzales, and Robert Pevenstein, University of Maryland, Baltimore President Jay Perman, University of Baltimore President Kurt Schmoke
Highlights: Michael Cryor noted, "Bob [Caret] is challenging us as a system to advance a dialogue of how the USM can continue to impact Baltimore and the problems it faces."
USM Regent Michelle Gourdine said Baltimore City residents should have higher academic expectations for K-12 students, noting that young people will perform to the levels of what is expected of them.
Baltimore City business leaders discussed the importance of students graduating from college with skills that make then ready for the labor market.
Donald Fry encouraged USM to regularly seek input from the business community regarding best practices in job training.
Rod Staatz, whose firm SECU has underwritten costs for the tour bus, said graduates need to have basic skills in managing their own personal finances before they can become effective credit union employees.
Tour Stop: Restaurant 213 (Fruitland, MD)
Attendees: Somerset County Public Schools Superintendent John Gaddis, Eastern Shore elected officials, including Delegate Mary Beth Carozza, and Somerset and Wicomico County residents
Highlights: Delegate Carozza said, "We need to do an even better job of encouraging graduates to stay here on the Shore, or at least in Maryland."
The group maintains an interest in finding ways to bring best practices in health care and medical research to the Eastern Shore through the combined resources of the UMB School of Medicine, Salisbury University, UMES, and Peninsula Regional Medical Center -- while recognizing there can be geographic and economic barriers to those efforts.
