Advocacy

I applaud the article by Aaron Dorfman, "Smarter grant-making" (Dec. 21) in which Mr. Dorfman encourages foundations to invest in "advocacy" activities that help change the root causes of social problems. However, in my view, Mr. Dorfman does not go far enough, actually shortchanging the benefits of investments in policy advocacy and grass roots organizing. In the article, Mr. Dorfman contrasts foundation investments in policy advocacy and grass roots organizing with those of direct services to individuals.

National advocacy groups for people with Down syndrome are seeking an independent investigation into the January death of a Frederick County man after off-duty sheriff's deputies tried to remove him from a movie theater. Robert Ethan Saylor, 25, suffocated on Jan. 12 after three Frederick County sheriff's deputies attempted to remove him from the Theater 9 Westview Cinemas in Frederick. He died later at a local hospital. "We want to just find out more information to see if Ethan's rights as an individual with a disability were violated.

I'm concerned that readers took away from Matt Patterson's op-ed ("U2: Great music in the service of dubious charity," June 22) the perception that advocacy is an inappropriate role for charities. On the contrary, by bringing together staff, board, volunteers and community members, charities of all sizes contribute in important ways to the exchange of information and ideas that is fundamental to our democratic system. Among the countless benefits: safer roads, healthier public spaces, protections for abused women, research dollars to cure disease, more humane treatment of animals.

I am responding to Del. Stephen Lafferty's most recent letter to the Towson Times, in which he complained that I failed to provide "context" regarding the storm water fee that Gov. O'Malley has required Baltimore County to pass. Since 2010, I have worked hard to increase open space and improve the environment in Greater Towson. During the 2012 rezoning process, the County Council acted on my recommendation to reduce the intensity of residential zoning in neighborhoods throughout Towson.

When the Maryland Transportation Authority board met in a work session last week to hammer out the final details of what is expected to be the largest toll increase in the state's history, there were only two people there besides members and staff. One was a reporter who pretty much had to be there to do his job. The other was a state senator who didn't have to be there to do hers. That legislator was Sen. Nancy Jacobs, a Republican who represents Harford and Cecil counties — two jurisdictions that have a huge stake in the outcome of the board's deliberations.

The student: William Moriarty, 16 School: Glenelg High School Special achievement: Participated in the first Maryland Youth Leadership Forum for Students with Disabilities sponsored by the state at Bowie State University. In the forum, participants with disabilities learned advocacy skills and set individual goals to help the community. William, who has Duchenne muscular dystrophy, was chosen to participate based on the strength of essays in which he described his leadership capabilities and long-term community service objective.

Columbia-based advocates for low-income families hoped to pressure the county in 1983 to provide developers with incentives to build more housing for their clients. Part of their strategy was a loose alliance with the business community, which had long lobbied for similar incentives. "We can't get anything done if we don't work with them," said Amy Reisch, chairwoman of the advocacy committee of the Association of Community Services, at the time. The committee, with representatives from several service agencies, also planned to step into the debate over the county's proposed rezoning plan, which included several measures to increase housing density if developers in turn built more housing for moderate-income people.

What our nation needs more than anything else from its grant-making foundations in 2011 is an evolution in thinking and practice related to funding policy advocacy and grass-roots community organizing. Research shows that advocacy, community organizing and civic engagement by nonprofit groups make a substantial, measurable difference in the lives of families and communities. Whether in red states or blue states, rural areas or major cities, when foundations invest in such policy engagement efforts, the return on investment is tremendous.

When the owners of the Dutch Connection flower shop in Baltimore decided they were ready to expand, they turned for help to the Governor's Office of Small Business Advocacy and Small Business Assistance. They received a $40,000 loan and plan to double the size of their shop on Canterbury Road to nearly 3,000 square feet beginning next month. Ken Maher, who owns the Dutch Connection with his wife, Paula Dobbe-Maher, said that, thanks to the state's help, he is now adding a second component to his flower shop.

Ellen and Greg Lehnert of Bel Air announce the engagement of their daughter, Kathleen, to Kenneth Robert McNeeley Jr., son of Ann and Ken McNeeley of Forest Hill. The future bride is a graduate of Cecil College, where she majored in secondary science education. She will graduate in May from Wilmington University with a bachelor's degree in behavioral science and a certificate in child advocacy studies. The prospective groom is a graduate from Newbury College, with a bachelor's degree in computer science, and from UMass Boston, with a master's degree in information technology.

Ellen and Greg Lehnert of Bel Air announce the engagement of their daughter, Kathleen, to Kenneth Robert McNeeley Jr., son of Ann and Ken McNeeley of Forest Hill. The future bride is a graduate of Cecil College, where she majored in secondary science education. She will graduate in May from Wilmington University with a bachelor's degree in behavioral science and a certificate in child advocacy studies. The prospective groom is a graduate from Newbury College, with a bachelor's degree in computer science, and from UMass Boston, with a master's degree in information technology.

The city of Baltimore is set to approve a $200,000 settlement with the family of a 14-year-old Randallstown girl who was electrocuted in 2006 while stretching during a church softball game in Druid Hill Park, ending a years-long legal battle. But for Anthony "Bubba" Green, a former Baltimore Colts lineman who is the girl's father, the end of the lawsuit is far from the end of the cause. "We don't want this to happen to anybody else," Green said Tuesday as he choked back tears.

As .223-caliber bullets from an assault-style rifle pinged a torso-shaped target, state Del. Michael D. Smigiel Sr. videotaped his latest pupil squeezing off rounds from a gun and magazine targeted to be banned in Maryland. "You see why you wouldn't want to reload after 10 rounds?" he asked during a pause in the target practice. The Eastern Shore Republican, twice named legislator of the year by a gun rights group, has over the years put an assault-style weapon into the hands of more than a dozen lawmakers on a private shooting range, hoping they will vote for gun rights if they are more familiar with firearms.

Thursday marks the International Day of the Girl. As part of Garrison Forest School's Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) partnership with the Johns Hopkins University, we spent this past spring and summer as the first interns at Jhpiego, the JHU-affiliated nonprofit addressing health issues of girls, women and their families worldwide. We talked via email and Skype with girls around the globe and discovered just how similar our perspectives are. The GirlSpot posts we wrote for the Jhpiego Facebook page detail these common bonds — and highlight the differences in our lives, differences that often have tragic consequences for our global peers.

Social Security advocates had a message last week for an audience of Maryland seniors on the 77th anniversary of the federal benefits program: Let's not be the last generation to retire. The Alliance for Retired Americans and Social Security Works attempted to enlist about 50 retirees at the Council House apartments in Suitland as part of an election-year army to spread the word about the positive impact they said Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare have had on generations of Marylanders.

Michael Oles, of Hampstead, is passionate about the sport of fencing. He says that while each of the three disciplines - foil, saber and epee - has its loyal followers, all are in agreement about one thing: Fencing is a life-long passion. "It's physical chess," he said, "using your body and brain just as much. " Oles, a 1974 Junior Olympic under-16 men's epee national champion, is all smiles when he and others talk about fencing. And while he lives in Carroll County, he can often be found in Catonsville - where he welcomes everyone, young and old alike - to learn the sport at a studio off Route 40 operated by the Baltimore area's Tri-Weapon Club, a club founded in 1961 by his late uncle and fencing legend, Richard Oles.

ARLINGTON, Va. -- It was 25 years ago tomorrow that agents of the Richard Nixon re-election campaign broke into Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex and set in motion the biggest political scandal of the century.To commemorate the anniversary, an assortment of interested DTC parties gathered the other day at the Newseum, the new museum chronicling the history of news gathering, to consider the legacy of Watergate. They concluded that good and bad came out of it.The greatest good was Nixon's removal from office, sparing the nation an impeachment ordeal, in what former Sen. George McGovern, the Democratic presidential nominee that year, called ''the mother of all White House scandals.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities was described incorrectly in an article yesterday as a "labor-backed advocacy group." In fact, the center, which receives little assistance from labor, describes itself as a liberal research group.The Sun regrets the error.

A public health advocacy group is calling on Maryland's hospitals to stop handing out free infant formula to new mothers because it can encourage them to give up on breastfeeding. Public Citizen says the distribution done by at least two-thirds of U.S. hospitals is unethical and violates good public health policy. It also undermines the efforts that many hospitals have undertaken to encourage breast feeding. Officials there have written letters, co-signed by more than 100 other organizations, to administrators of 33 Maryland hospitals . They're doing the same thing in other states.

Jonathan Browning built his career on four wheels, but his passion rides on two. Browning, Volkswagen Group of America's top executive, doesn't see why cars and bikes can't — to steal a slogan from the automaker — coexist on the road of life. "Almost every family in the country has a car and a bike in some condition in the garage," said Browning Tuesday morning as he sat in the lobby of a downtown Baltimore hotel, cycling helmet in his hands and a blue Volkswagen jersey stretched across his lean torso.