A Hands-On Volunteer Program Enhances Classroom Learning
An Alabama lawyer has figured out how to combine hands-on volunteer experience for college students with classroom learning.
By Mary E. Medland
Contributor
Lessons Learned: Teaching Kids the Costs of Urban Violence
After surviving a difficult childhood that included the death of his father, the loss of siblings to AIDS and suicide, and a drug habit he kicked as a young adult, Scott P. Charles began reaching out to troubled children in his hometown of Sacramento. He was recruited, in 1988, by a small nonprofit…
By Mary E. Medland
Contributor
Charity Helps Rural Women Gain Access to Contraception
Set on the Wisconsin River, Wausau is clean, bright, and friendly, a town of 38,000 souls whose downtown is dotted with bookshops, a florist, an organic grocery store, and a restaurant called the Way Back Cafe. A park sits where the old courthouse used to be. Located about 100 miles from the city…
By Mary E. Medland
Contributor
An Advocate for Victims of Violence Pleads for More Support
It wasn’t supposed to be a permanent job. In 1982, Milwaukee’s Sojourner Truth House — at the ALSO SEE: ARTICLE: About Kathie Stolpman, former executive director, Sojourner Truth House time, a shelter for victims of domestic violence that also offered treatment for abusers — was dealing with a…
By Mary E. Medland
Contributor
Priest Tends to a Growing Flock of Immigrant Parishioners
Up since 6 this Monday morning, the Rev. Robert F. Wojtek heads to the intimate, 40-seat chapel ALSO SEE: BIOGRAPHY: About The Rev. Robert F. Wojtek, Pastor, St. Michael’s Church and St. Patrick’s Church, Baltimore of St. Michael’s Church, where the Catholic priest joins with four other clergymen…
By Mary E. Medland
Contributor
A Nurse Midwife Ministers to Pregnant — and Often Troubled — Girls
At 6 a.m. the alarm goes off at Loral Patchen’s home ALSO SEE: TEXT BOX: About Loral Patchen, Executive Director, Teen Alliance for Prepared Parenting in the northwest quadrant of this city, but the first one out of bed is her husband, César Torres, who soon will bring his wife a fresh cup of…
By Mary E. Medland
Contributor
A Former Jail Guard Helps Ex-Prisoners Move Back Into Society
A DAY IN THE LIFE It is just before 4 on a Monday morning, and the 2700 block of Baltimore’s East Madison Street is dark and forbidding, dotted with boarded-up houses. Homes that remain occupied sport “no loitering” signs, adding to the scene’s desolation. But in a matter of minutes, the street…
By Mary E. Medland
Contributor
CEO’s tough business tactics save a failing health-care charityImagine a health-care system without the elementary technology of voice mail, with only one working computer for every 100 employees, a chaotic billing and collection system, and buildings with graffiti-covered walls and carpet held…
By Mary E. Medland
Contributor
The right new leader, a lot of hard work, and a little luck help turn around a struggling charityThe classified advertisement seeking a new executive director for Big Brothers Big Sisters of the East Bay sounded promising. “This is an exciting and demanding position where a dedicated and…
By Mary E. Medland
Contributor
Charity Leader Helps Disparate Groups Resolve Conflicts Through Talking
Baltimore By Mary E. Medland It is a few minutes before 7 a.m. on a Thursday, and Lauren Abramson, executive director of the Community Conferencing Center, is already on her cellphone chatting with a staff member while meandering back and forth between her living room and front porch. Her home is…
By Mary E. Medland
Contributor