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

    Protecting Baltimore’s Water Supply from “Forever Chemicals”

    This Abell Report outlines how the federal and state governments can mitigate the threat of “forever chemicals” in our drinking water.

    Cooling Cities, Slowing Climate Change and Enhancing Equity

    With funding from the Abell Foundation, the Smart Surfaces Coalition analyzed the costs and benefits of adopting “smart surfaces” in neighborhoods of Baltimore City where a high proportion of residents have low incomes.

    2020 Annual Report

    Our 2020 Annual Report highlights programs that are creating a more digitally equitable Baltimore, reducing gun violence, decreasing racial disparities in chronic disease, supporting tenants facing eviction, helping Black entrepreneurs access capital and small-business loans, advancing medical innovation, and providing job training for graduates of Baltimore City Public Schools that will provide pathways to careers and higher education.

    Greenhouse Gases from Maryland’s Landfills

    How much greenhouse gas is emitted from municipal waste landfills in Maryland? And what does that mean for the health and safety of our environment? With support from the Abell Foundation, the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP) examined the data and, in this report, share their very sobering findings.

    HECM Activity in Baltimore, MD from 2010-2020

    Concerned that the economic distress of the pandemic might lead to an increase in the number of Home Equity Conversion Mortgages (HECM), the Abell Foundation funded The Reinvestment Fund to do an analysis of HECM originations in Baltimore City.

    Header photo courtesy of Venture for America.