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.

Stay Updated!

Sign up to get notified as new publications become available.

    Featured Reports

    Assessment of Maryland’s Need for Eviction Prevention Funds and the Estimated Fiscal Impact

    Eviction prevention programs, which cover up to three months of past-due rent, are a cost-effective way to stabilize families, pay landlords, and reduce costs to the state. This report examines two different scenarios that would prevent disruptive displacements.

    Abell Report: the Trouble with STRIDE

    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.

    Abell Report: 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.

    Publications Library

    Costly Delays: Diagnosing and addressing operational delays in Baltimore’s nonprofit contracting process

    Baltimore City depends on nonprofits to provide services, particularly in Black and low-income communities. This Abell Report asks what causes the delays in the City’s contracting process with nonprofits and how can those delays be fixed?

    Examining the Opportunities and Challenges of the Rental Assistance Demonstration Program in Baltimore

    The Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) is designed to preserve public housing and provide the funding necessary for long deferred capital improvements. Has the program achieved those objectives in Baltimore? This Abell Report offers some early assessments.

    Taking Stock of Digital Inclusion in Maryland

    Where are the challenges of digital inclusion greatest in Maryland? This mapping tool, developed with funding from the Abell Foundation, uses a Digital Equity Index to highlight the communities — in urban and rural areas — facing the steepest challenges.

    The Costs of Baltimore’s Vacant Housing

    Vacant houses, uninhabitable due to abandonment or lack of owner investment, exert a heavy cost on neighborhoods and the City as a whole. This report calculates just how steep the public cost is and provides an economic backdrop for future action.

    2021 Annual Report

    Our 2021 Annual Report captures a sliver of the diverse, innovative ways Baltimoreans responded to the crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic; the deeper, systemic challenges we face as a city; and the opportunity to build on our many strengths.

    Header photo courtesy of Venture for America.