My Baltimore's Next: Heather Sarkissian

I believe that ultimately, citizen action shapes and transforms a city. The initiatives, programs, and businesses that we each create, however small, can deliver the Baltimore that collectively we seek. Many citizens in Baltimore, however, face challenging barriers when trying to make a difference, or worse yet, take no action at all. 

In the future of Baltimore, I would like more of our citizens to discover their inner-entrepreneur, their ability to deliver value and effect change. And, in conjunction, that we as a city provide support and programs to develop leaders and incentives for entrepreneurial self-expression at the micro level.

Entrepreneurs assume risk to design and deliver a solution to an unmet need. Baltimore, in my opinion, is an entrepreneur's dream. Everywhere you look there are opportunities to address unmet needs with creative and innovative solutions that deliver either social or financial returns (or both). It is actually the problems of Baltimore such as division, poverty, inequity, and underdevelopment that provide so many opportunities for personal and professional development. 

We need more individuals in Baltimore, of all ages and backgrounds, to take action to make this city a better place to live. We need citizens to believe in themselves, to not be discouraged by the idea of failure, to experiment, and to inspire others to follow.

But these entrepreneurs need support. Communities, organizations, businesses, and local government can invest more time and resources in these entrepreneurs. Individuals can provide support by donating time and skills, and more importantly, helping these entrepreneurs to believe in themselves. 

Organizations and local government can think about programs that incite, recognize, and incentivize entrepreneurship. Baltimore City can establish programs by which the citizens are called on to present innovative solutions to city issues. More Baltimore nonprofits can include leadership development as a strategic objective and sponsor affordable adult mentoring programs, professional roundtables, as well as programs that target underserved populations. Baltimore City could designate one day out of the year as a day for professional shadowing, to provide opportunities for new leaders to establish relationships with existing leaders and learn.

My ultimate dream for the city of Baltimore would be that the local government commit to fostering an entrepreneurial spirit. The city could establish a support program for entrepreneurs, with a constant point of contact where we could contribute ideas and suggestions. The program could survey entrepreneurs to track where they are facing challenges and where they are finding success, and craft policy that makes being an entrepreneur in Baltimore easier, especially for social entrepreneurs.

 
Heather Sarkissian lives in Fells Point. She is a business strategist at Community Analytics and an active social entrepreneur in Baltimore. She co-founded the following Baltimore programs and events: BmoreSmart, Betascape, Tech Crawl East, and FOOD = ART.


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Photos by Arianne Teeple