RISING Baltimore: Managing Tensions in Communities

RISING BALTIMORE, Managing Tensions in Communities

The University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) hosted a cutting-edge symposium with the Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations at Coventry University (United Kingdom) in October 2017 at the UMB campus.

The RISING Baltimore: Managing Tensions in Communities symposium was co-sponsored by the UMB Graduate School, the UMB Center for Global Education Initiatives, and the Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations. The two-day event was based on the famous RISING Global Peace Forum held in Coventry, England, where the old cathedral ruins and rebuilt modern cathedral are considered icons of reconciliation around the world. The RISING forums held in Coventry bring together global leaders, practitioners, and advocates working for peace with brave and creative ideas.

Purpose of Symposium

The purpose of the working symposium was to share community engagement strategies across communities and professions, between universities and communities, and across borders. Participants included Baltimore community members and community-engaged faculty from UMB’s seven professional schools. Participants tackled such issues as: 

  • What are the most effective evidence-based solutions to address community tensions?
  • What strategy has worked well in your community or through your community engagement that should be shared with symposium colleagues from Coventry and Baltimore?
  • What are enduring frustrations in your community or in your community engagement efforts that could benefit from new ideas from symposium colleagues at Coventry and Baltimore?

Keynote Lecture and Discussion

"Building Cohesion in Deeply Divided Societies" by Lord John Thomas Alderdice, U.K. Parliament

Introduced by Jay Perman, MD, President of the University of Maryland, Baltimore

Lord Alderdice is a member of the UK Parliament and Clinical Professor in Psychiatry at University of Maryland School of Medicine. He has been involved in the Irish Peace Process for the last 30 years as a political activist, party leader, and negotiator as well as a civil society leader, academic thinker and analyst. His work challenges deeply held views of the role of law, religion and culture in community distress and community reconciliation. Alderdice has taken his explorations and interventions to many areas of conflict around the globe beyond Northern Ireland.

Symposium speakers included:

Roger Ward, University of Maryland Baltimore Chief Accountability Officer, Vice President of Operations and Planning, Vice Dean of the Graduate School

Mike Hardy, Centre for Trust, Peace & Social Relations, Coventry University

Bishop Frank M. Reid III, African Methodist Church

David Perry, Professor, Department of Urban Planning and Policy, University of Illinois Chicago and former Director, Great Cities Institute

Sinead Ouillon, Programme Leader, the Coventry City University Initiative, Centre for Trust Peace and Social Relations

Michael Pinard and Professor Renée Hutchins, Co-Directors, Maryland Carey Law Clinical Law Program

Harris Beider, Centre for Trust Peace and Social Relations, Coventry University

Bronwyn Mayden, Professor and Assistant Dean, UMB School of Social Work

Susan M. Wozenski, Assistant Professor and Vice Chair, Family Community Health Program, University of Maryland School of Nursing

John Cuddihy, Centre for Trust Peace and Social Relations, Coventry University

David McIlhatton, Centre for Trust Peace and Social Relations, Coventry University

Community panel moderated by Ashley Valis, Executive Director, UMB Strategic Initiatives and Community Engagement, include:

Major Sheree Briscoe, Baltimore Police Department

DeJuan Patterson, PATIENTS Program

Michael Seipp, Executive Director, South West Partnership

J.R. Lee, South West Partnership Public Safety Committee Chair

Erika Alston-Buck, Penn North Recovery

Written work developed by the participants will be published in the Carey School of Law’s Journal of Race, Religion, Gender and Class.

 

‌RISING Baltimore Coventry University, Centre for Trust, Peace, & Social Relations