DR. Mary l. washington

Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University

Dr. Mary Washington is a member of Maryland's House of Delegates, representing the 43rd Legislative District (encompassing NE Baltimore City). Washington’s professional and volunteer work focuses on urban environmental education and on improving the quality of life and the sustainability of Baltimore’s neighborhoods. She serves as the Associate Director of Special Projects at The Parks & People Foundation, an organization that restores the urban environment, creates green employment and job training for Baltimore City youth and young adults, teaches city residents about the environment and expands their recreational opportunities. She also serves as an appointed member of the Baltimore City Commission on Sustainability, the panel that drafted the Baltimore City Sustainability Plan in 2009 and now oversees its implementation. Along with these positions, she is also a member of the Baltimore City Green Jobs Coalition. Through all the work she does, Delegate Washington is able to take her deep commitment to matters of social and environmental justice, and, using her skills in putting people together to solve problems, has made effective strides in creating a healthier, safer, and sustainable Baltimore.

jessica Turral

Hand in Hand Baltimore

Jessica Turral, A&S ’09, grew up just six miles from the Homewood campus and studied psychology at the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences. “I just want to dedicate my life to helping others—starting with those in Baltimore,” says Jessica, who as an undergraduate was active in numerous service projects and initiated a program to introduce Johns Hopkins students to Charm City. “I want to help my home, my city, my heart. Until every child in Baltimore has an equal opportunity at life, my work is not done.”
In September of 2009, Ms. Turral started an organization called Hand in Hand Baltimore, which helps to connect charged juveniles with caring mentors (most of whom are graduate psychology based students) who are willing to help provide them with counseling, individual and group therapy, mentoring, academic enrichment, and case management.

Scott Burkholder

Baltimore Love Project

Scott Burkholder came to Baltimore, MD in 1998 to attend Johns Hopkins University. He graduated in 2002 with a double degree in Chemical Engineering and Biomedical Engineering. For a short time following graduation, he pursued a career in medicine/basic science doing small cell lung cancer research in the oncology department of Johns Hopkins under Dr. D. Neal Watkins. During school, and his tenure in the lab, he began showing symptoms of his entrepreneurial proclivities by starting a high-end residential paint company. In 2004 the entrepreneurship bug was confirmed when he went full time into his contracting venture. In 2008 he was invited by Baltimore mural artist Michael Owen to oversee the business side of the Baltimore Love Project, the largest self initiated public art project Baltimore has ever seen. The combination of art and entrepreneurship has captured Scott's attention. He believes art is powerful with it's ability to show the world as it is, and more importantly, as it can be. He promotes art full time in Baltimore and is working to create a Social Venture Capital Firm that serves Baltimore's creative community.