President Schmoke: Baltimore Must Rebuild Its Middle Class
May 7, 2015
Contact: University Relations
Phone: 410.837.5739
Writing in Time magazine, University of Baltimore President Kurt L. Schmoke says that if Baltimore is to overcome its status as "a tale of two cities," it must take on the large-scale economic shifts that have prompted large numbers of middle class families to leave the city.
"We have a challenge to address the global economic trends affecting our city," Schmoke says. "What we've suffered from in the last 20 or 30 years is middle-class flight, not white flight. When I graduated from high school in 1967, the largest private employer in this area was a steel plant. When I became mayor in 1987, the largest private employer in the area was John Hopkins University and health center.
"After World War II, students could drop out of school and go to manufacturing jobs and live a working class life. Students who drop out now are a disaster waiting to happen for our community. Those people can only look for very low-income jobs, and some would be unemployable. That leaves them prey to a life of crime."
Schmoke, a former state's attorney for Baltimore, also shares his thoughts about the Freddie Gray case.
Read the article.
Learn more about President Schmoke.