Featured projects
GMRT has developed programs and models that put research into practice for Baltimore’s youth, families, schools and neighborhoods. Each is available for adoption, funding and partnership with schools, public agencies, foundations and community organizations.
Community and economic development
The Baltimore Model
The Baltimore Model is a community-driven, evidence-based framework for delivering coordinated wraparound services to residents. At its center is a High-Performing Comprehensive Community Center: a neighborhood hub where agencies, schools and service providers align their work, share information through common tracking systems, and support the whole child, the whole family and the whole community. The model places special emphasis on helping system-involved youth return successfully to their schools and neighborhoods, keeping at-risk youth out of the justice system and connecting residents to mental health and other support services. Designed with an initial site in Baltimore’s Howard Park community, it is built to be replicated in neighborhoods across the city.
- For
- Neighborhood associations, city agencies, schools and service providers
- Format
- A neighborhood hub plus a coordinated network of services, with shared tracking and a logic model linking resources to outcomes
- Status
- Available for partnership and funding
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Professional development and training
Effective Interface with Law Enforcement
Empowering Communities Through Knowledge, Understanding and Strategies is a community training program that equips residents, especially young people, with the knowledge, communication skills and coping strategies to interact safely and effectively with police. The program unfolds in six phases, from curriculum research and pilot sessions to standardized training modules for schools and youth-serving agencies and a long-term evaluation. A Community Ambassador Program prepares trained residents to work alongside city agencies and law enforcement to strengthen police-community relations. A research component, anchored by a citywide survey of resident attitudes, measures the training’s impact and informs public policy.
- For
- Residents, youth, community groups, schools and youth-serving agencies
- Format
- Six-phase training with curriculum and materials, a Community Ambassador Program, and a baseline survey with long-term evaluation
- Status
- Available for partnership and funding
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Youth and family programs
The RAISE Program
Raising Awareness and Increasing Safety for Everyone is a school-based social-learning program that helps secondary students interact safely with law enforcement while building empathy and shared accountability between youth and police. Scenario-based video modules come with lesson plans, activities and teacher guides aligned with the Maryland College and Career Ready Standards and the C3 Framework for Social Studies, so schools can integrate them into core subjects. Students, parents, teachers and subject-matter experts shape the content through focus groups, teachers receive professional development, and an independent evaluation tracks changes in student perceptions over time. The program also strengthens media literacy and responsible use of social media.
- For
- Secondary schools, starting with incoming ninth graders
- Format
- Video-based classroom modules with lesson plans and teacher guides, teacher professional development and an independent evaluation
- Status
- Available for partnership and funding
Discuss this project with us
Youth and family programs
School Violence Prevention Program
Developed for Baltimore City Public Schools, this comprehensive, research-based program helps schools reduce violence and create calm, positive learning environments. Students build social competence: recognizing emotions, managing anger, thinking through consequences, resolving conflicts through peer mediation and choosing positive role models. Educators receive in-service training in peer mediation, bias reduction and modeling pro-social behavior, and parents learn to resolve conflict nonviolently at home. The program also strengthens school leadership and disciplinary policies, links schools with community agencies, businesses and law enforcement, and builds each school’s capacity to measure outcomes and monitor risk factors over time.
- For
- School leaders, teachers, students and parents
- Format
- School-wide program: student skill-building, staff and parent training, community partnerships and outcome tracking
- Status
- Available for partnership and funding
Discuss this project with us