More than 500 of Baltimore’s most influential women joined United Way of Central Maryland’s Women United members to participate in the 2018 Women’s Forum March 22 in the Calvin & Tina Tyler Ballroom at Morgan State University.
The event also raised more than $30,000 to support United Way’s On Track 4 Success early intervention education program that helps keep young students on track to graduate high school. Based on research by The Johns Hopkins University Everyone Graduates Center, the program serves students and teachers in three area schools: Maree G. Farring Elementary/Middle School and Benjamin Franklin High School in South Baltimore, and Meade Middle School in Anne Arundel County.
During the sold-out event, dynamic business and community leaders celebrated the power of storytelling and discussed how thoughtful conversations about our own stories can effect positive change. Participants also engaged in inspiring conversations around education and how our own stories about race, inclusion and identity can empower others.
Michele Norris, a Peabody Award-winning journalist and founder of The Race Card Project, led the audience in an activity, engaging people to talk across differences and examining deeply entrenched narratives that define or confine communities. The program concluded with a keynote speech from author and inspirational speaker Liz Murray, who overcame homelessness during high school to be accepted by Harvard University.
