The Baltimore Experience

-Excerpt from a chapter written by Stephen T Baron, Deborah Agus, Fred Osher, and David Brown. Scholars from Baltimore's many academic institutions.

"Baltimore city is the 13th largest city in the US. It is located on the eastern seaboard of the US in the state of Maryland 37 miles from Washington DC and 196 miles from New York City. Baltimore is one of the oldest cities in the USA and in 1997 celebrated the bicentennial of its incorporation. The city is governed by a Mayor and 19 member City Council which is elected every 4 years.

Over the past 40 years, similar to other urban areas in the USA, Baltimore has experienced a decline in population. Once the largest political jurisdiction in the state of Maryland with 939,024 or 25% of the state's population, Baltimore is currently the fourth largest subdivision in the state with a population of 692,800 or 4% of the state's population. The majority of the individuals residing in Baltimore City are African American (about 60%) with Caucasians making up 38% and other races the additional 2%. Baltimore's 14,652 businesses employ 311,161 workers. Manufacturing accounts for 10% of the city's workforce and the largest employed is the Johns Hopkins University and Hospital System.

Baltimore is home to the largest concentration of poor people in Maryland. About one half of the state's poor people reside in the city of Baltimore. The population of Baltimore City is about 30% of the metropolitan area (the city and the five surrounding counties) but the city is home to almost 68% of the region's poor.

In 1960, the median family income of city families was 91.2% of the metropolitan area median family income while in 1990 the income of city families was 66.9% in proportion. The poor are overwhelmingly children from single parent homes,, African American female single parents, and the elderly and disabled. In 1992, 21.5% of the households in the city hand incomes below $10,000 compared to only 9% of households in the state of Maryland. The elderly (over 65 years old) make up 13.7% of the city's population. Over 40% of the elderly population living in the city are disabled, while 32.5% of the elderly state-wide are disabled.

In 1991, the city's unemployment rate of 9.4% was the highest in the state. Baltimore is also home to the greatest concentration of homeless persons and individuals in need of substance abuse treatment in the state."

Maybe... God put me here for a very intentional reason.