Sparks For Change: Open Society Fellows Have Tested New Ideas For Baltimore For 20 Years
Dozens of ex-offenders have passed through Gregory Carpenter’s small bakery, where he teaches them how to make buttery pastry dough and flaky pie crusts. He hopes these small tasks will be a foundation for a future career.
Carpenter is one in an army of social justice change agents that the Baltimore office of the Open Society Institute has deployed across the city for the last 20 years. He says when he returned home in 1994 from two decades in prison, he spent months searching for work before finding a job as a short-order cook at a motel. The 12-week course he offers newly released ex-offenders at his 2AM Bakery is designed to give them an easier path forward.
The OSI community fellowships program allowed Carpenter to test his idea and build a nonprofit that helps the men and women earn food service management certifications, establish work history and acquire skills, such as resume writing and anger management. . .