What We’re Learning

What We’re Learning

We believe that a community of creative problem-solvers, faced with complicated, seemingly intractable challenges, is well-served by thought-provoking, research-based information and analysis. We support the development and dissemination of research in two ways:

Abell Reports

Abell Reports are commissioned reports by subject matter experts, academics, and investigative journalists that provide studies of selected issues on the public agenda.

Abell-Supported Research

These projects – undertaken with grant funding by academics and nonprofit research and advocacy organizations – advance learning on issues key to Baltimore City.

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    Featured Reports

    Abell Report: Later School Start Times for Adolescents in Baltimore City Public Schools

    Everyone agrees that teens need more sleep. So why does school start so early? This report examines the research on school start times and the implications for students in Baltimore City.

    2023 Annual Report

    Our 2023 Annual Report highlights the work of organizations across the city that are dedicated to addressing the complex challenges many of our neighbors face and of the great potential they hold.

    Abell Reports: Police-Community Relations in Baltimore

    In 2017, the U.S. Department of Justice issued a consent decree for the Baltimore Police Department, mandating wide-ranging reforms. In a pair of companion reports, researchers from the University of Maryland examine the current state of community-police relations and how certain initiatives could help to improve them.

    Publications Library

    2016 Annual Report

    Our 2016 Annual Report profiles actions we have undertaken to address inequities and facilitate meaningful opportunities. These efforts include providing vision care for students; offering essential resources to immigrant families; supporting healthy food access and community markets; resolving student loan debt; building a pipeline for early college access; securing earned assets to help build wealth; and laying the foundation for an equitable transition to clean energy.

    Dual Enrollment in Maryland and Baltimore City

    Understanding which components of dual enrollment programs promote greater access and success for low-income and minority students is a necessary first step in expanding the benefits of dual enrollment programming to all students.

    Expanding Educational Opportunity in Maryland

    An Abell-funded report by the Maryland Center on Economic Policy that examines the role of funding formulas in increasing equity.

    Hope for Hemp? A Misunderstood Plant Prepares for its Comeback

    Hemp offers opportunities for new products, good jobs, and wellness. It can replenish our soils; reduce our dependence on pesticides that harm rivers and streams, the air, and bee populations; and save much needed water, especially as droughts become more common with climate change.

    Safe Consumption Spaces: A Strategy for Baltimore

    In response to unprecedented rates of overdose deaths, enduring morbidities associated with drug use, and the failed war on drugs, there has been increased interest in the U.S. in creative and effective interventions aimed to reduce harm to drug users and the broader community.

    Header photo courtesy of Venture for America.