Melissa Gerr

Baltimore

Writer and Producer, On the Record at WYPR-FM (Baltimore, MD)

Writer and producer, WYPR radio. Tweets are mine, all mine! Unless it's a retweet, then it's not.

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Articles

BPD engages businesses to create safe places for the LGBTQIA+ community

1 week ago | wypr.org | Ashley Sterner |Melissa Gerr

In the first four months of this year, state legislatures across the country have taken up 575 bills targeting the rights of the LGBTQ+ community. That’s according to the American Civil Liberties Union, which tracks that activity.
Civic Works' 'Baltimore Shines' makes futures brighter

1 week ago | wypr.org | Sheilah Kast |Melissa Gerr

Customers are paying a lot for electricity these days. Some are thinking how great it would be to take advantage of solar energy floating free from the sky. But would solar even work for their home? And what would it cost to install -- how long before they’d see any savings? For 170 families in the city of Baltimore, there’s good news in a program called “Baltimore Shines,” organized by the non-profit Civic Works. People with low and moderate incomes can have solar installed and connected free.
Asia North engages all the senses

2 weeks ago | wypr.org | Ashley Sterner |Melissa Gerr

May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage month. For the seventh year, The Asia North Exhibition and Arts festival will fill the Station North Arts district with music, food, dance, and art to engage all of your senses! Everyone is invited, and we hear from artist Phaan Howngand co-curator Nerissa Paglinauan to get a preview! On The Record WYPR ProgramsOn the RecordAsian American Pacific IslanderStation NorthAAPITU-Asian Arts & Culture Center
Stories from the Stoop: Stepping up to lead

2 weeks ago | wypr.org | Melissa Gerr

Here's a Stoop Story from Chief Donna Wolf Mother Abbott about finding her way, and stepping into leadership for her Native American community in Dorchester County, Maryland. Monday, May 5 is the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons (MMIP). Two women from Baltimore’s Lumbee community are among those remembered: Tiffany Jones was abducted and murdered in 2018. And Yasmine Wilson was murdered in 2019. Both were mothers.
Looking into inequities of Maryland's incarceration rates

2 weeks ago | wypr.org | Sheilah Kast |Melissa Gerr

Ten years ago, when police chased Freddie Gray on the streets of Sandtown and arrested him, more people from his neighborhood were in state custody than from any other census tract in Maryland. That, according to data analyzed by the Justice Policy Institute and the Prison Policy Initiative. Their latest count shows things have changed only slightly: The Justice Policy Institute’s most recent data show Sandtown-Winchester and nearby Harlem Park rank no.
Maryland's strategy against opioid overdose

2 weeks ago | wypr.org | Sheilah Kast |Melissa Gerr

If you loved one of the 1,549 people who died in Maryland of an overdose in the past twelve months -- if you’re a brother, a parent, a daughter, a friend -- it may be small comfort that that number is 30 percent lower than the year before and has been trending downward since 2021. It’s still too high. Emily Keller, Maryland’s ‘Special Secretary of Overdose Response, is charged with leading Maryland’s fight against overdose deaths.
Mayor’s Office of Broadband and Digital Equity has been hard at work

2 weeks ago | wypr.org | Ashley Sterner |Melissa Gerr

We have come a long way since dial up internet access. Today, almost anything can instantaneously be done online — like checking in for a flight, transferring funds, communicating with family, applying for a job. We depend on that digital connectivity. It’s become a lifeblood. But what happens when dependable access to the internet isn’t a given? Kenya Asli, director of the Mayor’s Office of Broadband and Digital Equity, is working to level the playing field for Baltimoreans. We learn how.
'Community Calls' keeps neighbors in the know

2 weeks ago | wypr.org | Ashley Sterner |Melissa Gerr

When schools and businesses started closing their doors at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Baltimore communities were clamoring for information they could trust. That prompted local health leaders to launch a series of group phone calls with the community. Five years later, those calls have transitioned into a weekly podcast: “The Community Calls with Dr. G and Kimberly,' hosted by Dr. G. and Ms. Kimberly Hailey-Fair.
Intersection of Change in Sandtown-Winchester: Stay engaged now more than ever

3 weeks ago | wypr.org | Sheilah Kast |Melissa Gerr

The violence and uprising after Freddie Gray died in police custody ten years ago shook Baltimore to its core. We ask executive director Todd Marcus and Rikiesha Metzger, interim director of the Jubilee Arts program at Intersection of Change, a community center in Gray’s Sandtown-Winchester neighborhood, what’s changed, and what hasn’t.
Stories from the Stoop: Glass half full!

3 weeks ago | wypr.org | Sheilah Kast |Melissa Gerr

Here's a Stoop Story from Jason Newton about seeing Baltimore through new eyes, the day after a fiery, violent night in Sandtown-Winchester in April, 2015. Freddie Gray died in police custody, April 19, 2015. His death ignited a range from peaceful protests to clashes with police in Baltimore. May his memory, and what it came to stand for, live as inspiration for solidarity and caring community. On The Record Freddie GrayOn the RecordWYPR ProgramsStoop Storytelling