Commitment to Our Communities
Johns Hopkins University is nested in local, national, and international communities. The university is not only in Baltimore—it is truly and proudly of Baltimore. As the city’s largest anchor institution, firmly rooted in its past and its future, we feel the constant pull of urban issues.
We are connected in a similar way to our larger national and international communities. Our education, research, and medical care extend to every corner of the country. And no academic institution has demonstrated a greater commitment to the developing world, or played a larger role in seeking to remedy the impact of the gaping disparities in wealth, health, and education around the globe.
Our university has the capacity to contribute so much to the communities of which we are a part. We must galvanize our intellectual and moral strengths—for the betterment of our communities and the betterment of ourselves.
The Goals
Enhance and enrich our ties to Baltimore, the nation, and the world, so that Johns Hopkins becomes the exemplar of a globally engaged urban university.
When our communities thrive, we all do. Our abiding dedication to our hometown drives us to share our ideas and our energy to make the city as strong as it can be, and our founding mission to bring knowledge to the world fuels our research in cities across the globe. To that end, Johns Hopkins is deeply invested in partnerships outside the university that enrich our students and our neighbors, bolster our scholarship, and give expression to our mission.
HopkinsLocal, our comprehensive strategy launched four years ago to promote greater economic growth and employment opportunities in the city, has consistently outperformed expectations to build, hire, and buy locally. We’ve focused significant resources on educational programming in support of Baltimore’s small business community, including the city’s minority and women entrepreneurs. And—through a partnership with the city’s health department and public school system—we’ve distributed 5,000 free pairs of eyeglasses to city students.