My Baltimore's Next: Scott Burkholder

I see a future where the world looks to Baltimore for the latest social innovations the way that we look to Silicon Valley for the hottest technology. Baltimore is an ideal location for social entrepreneurs to congregate for several reasons. Baltimore is a massive market for social change. Baltimore is a hot bed of intelligent and creative people. Large institutions, beyond social serving non-proifts, are working on social change.

A quick definition: social enterprise is an enterprise that  pursues social and economic impact.

The Market
I do not need to express that our city can improve. It is well documented by public statistics and embellished by artistic perspectives. What needs to improve? Crime and education are at the top of this list. Social entrepreneurs have begun working on these issues, and more could enter the arena. Vacant housing, under employment, abandoned remains of manufacturing, underutilized office space, and the list of standard city calamities goes on. These are assets that could be converted to changed lives and economic impact. Other niceties like green energy initiatives, improved bike-ability, community art, and public art are all things that could be worked on by social enterprise. Baltimore has room for value to be added and to be extracted.

The Manpower
The Baltimore area has 19 institutions of higher education. We graduate thousands of highly educated people. Unfortunately, this talent is one of our greatest exports. If we could retain those brains, we could see greater creativity and impact. Social enterprise can retain graduates to do the inspiring jobs it creates, and will heighten the retention as the city improves.

Along with producing talent we are attracting talent. People are trickling into Baltimore for various reasons (spouses, school, military, jobs). If given long enough, they are often charmed by the city and stay. Many great initiatives in Baltimore have been started by transplants who call Baltimore home. We are producing talent that we need to keep, and we are attracting, albeit in small numbers, talent. The creative man power is here and with social enterprise it will remain.

The Man's Support
Last year, two world renowned Baltimore institutions launched business programs with social focuses. "Doing Business with Humanity in Mind" is the tag line of The Carey Business School at Johns Hopkins. Their academic program is equipping students to be social change leaders. At MICA you can now get a creative business degree through their masters of Professional Studies in the Business of Art and Design. The program expands the business horizons of creatives, who are often the pioneers of social change.

Beyond education, major non-profits in Baltimore are pushing the bounds of business models. Humanin, a non-profit that focuses on work force development, completed a $25 million development project. They intentionally expanded into a desert of vacant houses (over 65%) to revitalize the neighborhood.

In the for profit sector, major developers have social agendas. Westport is not only the first platinum LEED certified community, it also intends to integrate segregated work populations. State Center's developer announced recently intentions to hire local wherever possible for the $1.5 billion development. Baltimore influencers see that money is not the only variable for sound business.

Step out your door observe the vacant house. Read the paper about the crime. Think about how your children will be educated. Know that all of that is about to change with social entrepreneurs. Baltimore has a massive market, we have the brains, and we are finding the influencers to help make it happen. It won't be long until Stanford will be sending freshly minted MBAs east!


Scott Burkholder promotes art in Baltimore. He is the executive director of the Baltimore Love Project. The project has a mission to make art accessible to all of Baltimore. They see a future where every wall is a canvas and every street corner is a gallery. They are a practicing social enterprise. To find out more about the project visit baltimoreloveproject.com.


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Photos by Arianne Teeple