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: License to Work

    Thousands of Baltimore jobseekers struggle to secure and retain employment because they do not possess reliable personal transportation. This report examines how barriers, such as driver’s license requirements, vehicle ownership costs, and spatial employment and transit patterns, prevent Baltimore residents from accessing stable employment opportunities.

    Abell Report: Beyond the Headlines

    As the city celebrates historic reductions in gun violence, the media continues to broadcast headlines warning of crime by city youths ages 17 and younger. This report analyzes data available from key entities engaged with crimes charged to young people.

    Photo courtesy of the Goucher Prison Education Partnership.

    2024 Annual Report

    A reflection on the promising new approaches and new resources that have been brought to bear in the last decade.

    Publications Library

    The Trouble with STRIDE: Meeting climate goals and addressing natural gas system stranded costs

    Ten years ago, Maryland’s legislature passed a bill to expedite utilities’ replacement of their natural gas pipes in the name of safety. Since then, Maryland has adopted ambitious climate goals that will require the near elimination of natural gas use in homes by 2045. Yet the state continues to allow utilities to invest billions in replacing pipes, which consumers will have to pay for — with a profit for the utilities — for decades to come.

    Entry and Exit of Baltimore City Teachers Before and After COVID

    In 2022, after increasing pressures from the COVID pandemic and a shifting political climate, the nation’s largest teachers’ union warned that over half of teachers were considering exiting the profession. This report investigates whether Baltimore City Schools has experienced changes in teacher supply due to COVID.

    2022 Annual Report

    Our 2022 Annual Report profiles several of Abell’s grantees, providing a snapshot of the many ways Baltimoreans are working to help their neighbors secure stable housing, better jobs, brighter futures for their children, and for those who need one, a second chance.

    Long-Term Services and Supports in Baltimore

    A framework for improving job quality and creating a highly trained direct care and services workforce.

    Whole Blocks, Whole City: Reclaiming Vacant Property Throughout Baltimore

    There are nearly 15,000 vacant houses and 20,000 vacant lots in Baltimore City, with many thousands more at risk, the majority of which are found in predominantly Black, low-income neighborhoods. Baltimore can break this cycle of disinvestment through a whole block strategy.

    Header photo courtesy of Venture for America.