Clinton Bamberger
Emeritus Trustee, OSI-Baltimore
Clinton Bamberger, emeritus professor of the University of Maryland School of Law, has had a distinguished law career. A Baltimore native, he attended Georgetown University Law Center and worked at the then-named Piper & Marbury law firm for 17 years, becoming a partner. Under President Lyndon Johnson, Bamberger became the first director of a federal program to provide funding for legal aid for poor people-the Legal Services Program of the Office of Economic Opportunity. He served as dean of the law school at Catholic University for five years and then was executive vice president of the national Legal Services Corporation, the successor to the OEO program. He was named professor of the year by the Society of American Law Teachers, was a Senior Fulbright Scholar in Nepal and has been a scholar or visiting professor in The Netherlands, Australia and South Africa. He is an OSI-Baltimore founding board member and emeritus trustee.
What do you see as Baltimore's greatest challenge?
So many people are living in poverty, poverty along with all its consequences--drugs and addiction, deteriorated family structure, ill health and inadequate education. There are two worlds in Baltimore--an affluent world and a much larger world of people living in poverty. Like all in the United States, we Baltimoreans suffer from the inequitable distribution of wealth. In our country, to our shame, one fifth of the households own 85 percent of our wealth while 40 percent of households are expected to survive on only 0.2 percent of our nation's wealth. Forty percent of households in the United States are expected to survive on two tenths of one percent of our wealth!
Have you seen changes in the past decade?
Yes, I see more understanding of the amount of poverty in this city and its consequences. We do have more drug treatment, more assistance for people returning from incarceration and more and better public education--but we are still far from meeting the needs.
Do you feel optimistic about the future?
I'm not sure that I'm optimistic; I do have hope. I have hope that more people are beginning to understand the problems and address them.
How has OSI -Baltimore contributed to moving the city forward?
OSI has contributed to a better understanding of the problems and a need for not only financial support but also for advocacy in the public and the private sectors to address the problems. When I think of the work of OSI-Baltimore in the ten years of its existence, three efforts come first to my mind: the forums, the partnerships with other private philanthropy and collaboration with city and state government, and the Community Fellows. From the beginning, OSI sponsored forums, or fora if you will, in which we brought to town people with experience and proven expertise in addressing the problems that beset Baltimore. The forums were attended by staff and boards of private and public organizations working on these problems in Baltimore. We learned from each other and from the experts. The forums started new conversations. OSI has tried to foster collaboration with other private philanthropy and with public bodies--agencies of the city and the state. Many of our grants are joint ventures with other foundations, and many support existing or new efforts of public agencies. OSI has been very successful in strengthening the work of public agencies and encouraging them to do things they might not have thought about doing before. The Community Fellows also have been extraordinarily successful. I've been fortunate to be on the committee that selects the Fellows every year. The quality has been consistently good. And then, you watch as their work evolves. Some begin thinking they will reinvent the wheel and instead, they end up creating a rocket ship. What's also remarkable is that about 80 percent of them have continued their work after their Fellowships end. They are ubiquitous in this town. The Fellows have been a significant achievement. The good work they do is everywhere. I cannot end without giving credit to the board and the staff. The board always has been very involved in the work. The board meets monthly and reviews--rather I should say, as the staff might, "scrupulously examines"--every grant proposal. The excellent staff is our greatest asset. OSI staff members are not only involved in reviewing applications for support and monitoring grants but they also are involved in the work--they are active participants in the most important work of our grantees. They serve on boards, consult, offer advice and are in the trenches.
What motivates you to work toward change?
I'm a native. This is my town. I'm fortunate enough to have been asked to be involved in trying to help make things better. Everyone wants to do that but not everyone has the chance. I've been very lucky.
So many people are living in poverty, poverty along with all its consequences--drugs and addiction, deteriorated family structure, ill health and inadequate education. There are two worlds in Baltimore--an affluent world and a much larger world of people living in poverty. Like all in the United States, we Baltimoreans suffer from the inequitable distribution of wealth. In our country, to our shame, one fifth of the households own 85 percent of our wealth while 40 percent of households are expected to survive on only 0.2 percent of our nation's wealth. Forty percent of households in the United States are expected to survive on two tenths of one percent of our wealth!
Have you seen changes in the past decade?
Yes, I see more understanding of the amount of poverty in this city and its consequences. We do have more drug treatment, more assistance for people returning from incarceration and more and better public education--but we are still far from meeting the needs.
Do you feel optimistic about the future?
I'm not sure that I'm optimistic; I do have hope. I have hope that more people are beginning to understand the problems and address them.
How has OSI -Baltimore contributed to moving the city forward?
OSI has contributed to a better understanding of the problems and a need for not only financial support but also for advocacy in the public and the private sectors to address the problems. When I think of the work of OSI-Baltimore in the ten years of its existence, three efforts come first to my mind: the forums, the partnerships with other private philanthropy and collaboration with city and state government, and the Community Fellows. From the beginning, OSI sponsored forums, or fora if you will, in which we brought to town people with experience and proven expertise in addressing the problems that beset Baltimore. The forums were attended by staff and boards of private and public organizations working on these problems in Baltimore. We learned from each other and from the experts. The forums started new conversations. OSI has tried to foster collaboration with other private philanthropy and with public bodies--agencies of the city and the state. Many of our grants are joint ventures with other foundations, and many support existing or new efforts of public agencies. OSI has been very successful in strengthening the work of public agencies and encouraging them to do things they might not have thought about doing before. The Community Fellows also have been extraordinarily successful. I've been fortunate to be on the committee that selects the Fellows every year. The quality has been consistently good. And then, you watch as their work evolves. Some begin thinking they will reinvent the wheel and instead, they end up creating a rocket ship. What's also remarkable is that about 80 percent of them have continued their work after their Fellowships end. They are ubiquitous in this town. The Fellows have been a significant achievement. The good work they do is everywhere. I cannot end without giving credit to the board and the staff. The board always has been very involved in the work. The board meets monthly and reviews--rather I should say, as the staff might, "scrupulously examines"--every grant proposal. The excellent staff is our greatest asset. OSI staff members are not only involved in reviewing applications for support and monitoring grants but they also are involved in the work--they are active participants in the most important work of our grantees. They serve on boards, consult, offer advice and are in the trenches.
What motivates you to work toward change?
I'm a native. This is my town. I'm fortunate enough to have been asked to be involved in trying to help make things better. Everyone wants to do that but not everyone has the chance. I've been very lucky.