Sheila Dixon

Professions :

Former Mayor of Baltimore

Born :

December 27, 1953

Various things have to happen in Baltimore that are not just related to police reform. How police deal with the public is one variant, but we also have to deal with how we treat each other. We need to look at taking more responsibility for ourselves.

various police responsibility

New York has one of the largest school systems in the country, but it's one of the best school systems in the country. I worked on an initiative called Family Strengthening. What it meant was we began to work with families, people coming out who were incarcerated, connecting them back to the family. Kids today, some of them need psychological help, not just providing for them. We have issues - we have to break cycles. We need to be accountable and we need to assess what's working and what's not working.

country kids school

There are jobs here in Baltimore, but the problem is we don't have skilled people. Like the Port Covington initiative - that's 20 years out. I instituted initiatives as mayor that called for equities for minorities, increase minority opportunities, training. It's a good model to duplicate. Everybody doesn't want to go to college. A lot of our vocational programs don't have the latest technology. Students should begin freshman year in high school working on a plan for graduation - either going into an apprenticeship or college.

technology opportunity school

It's affected the city in a good way.

People have come together.