Dedicated to Community
Johns Hopkins is committed to serving its hometown of Baltimore, endeavoring to uplift the community through public health initiatives, tutoring programs, medical outreach, and more.
Johns Hopkins University creates the School of Hygiene and Public Health, the world’s first independent graduate school of public health.
Founding director cites need to study and address health problems in Baltimore that impact the segregated Black population
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The Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health and the Baltimore City Health Department establish the Eastern Health District.
JHU chaplain Chester Wickwire starts the Tutorial Project, sending undergraduate volunteers to assist Baltimore's youths.
David Paige, a professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health, helps establish an iron-fortified infant formula program in Baltimore.
Paves the way for the federal WIC nutrition program
Learn MoreUnder Health Commissioner Peter L. Beilenson, BSPH ’90 (MPH), the Baltimore City Health Department initiates a needle-exchange program. Since its inception, the city has distributed more than 17 million syringes.
Helps reduce the HIV rate among Baltimore’s injection drug users from 53% in 1992 to 12% in 2011
Learn MoreLive Near Your Work program launches, incentivizing employees to purchase homes in Baltimore City
Program now provides grants of up to $17,000 to buy in designated neighborhoods
Learn MoreAlum Sarah Hemminger founds Thread, a nonprofit volunteer-driven program that uses mentoring relationships to help young people succeed.
"We provide whatever these students need, from going to their homes to make sure they go to school, to packing their lunches, to tutoring them and connecting them with community resources."- Sarah Hemminger, Engr ’02, Med ’10 (PhD) Learn More
JHU’s Bloomberg School of Public Health, School of Nursing, and School of Medicine establish SOURCE, the community engagement and service-learning center.
The Baltimore Scholars Program is established to provide full-tuition scholarships to any graduate of a Baltimore City public school admitted to JHU.
In 2022, the program expands to D.C. and is renamed to honor the late U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings
Learn MoreJohns Hopkins geriatric nurse practitioner Sarah Szanton, now dean of the School of Nursing, launches Community Aging in Place, Advancing Better Living for Elders, or CAPABLE.
Program helps older Americans age in place
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The School of Education helps launch Henderson-Hopkins, the first new school in East Baltimore in more than two decades.
Medicine for the Greater Good launches as part of the internal medicine curriculum for trainees at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center.
Hopkins launches the HopkinsLocal program to “Build, Buy, Invest” in Baltimore businesses.
"It’s about empowering and enhancing opportunity for the Baltimore community."- Theodore DeWeese, CEO of Johns Hopkins Medicine Learn More
The COVID-19 Pandemic Anchor Strategy brings information, testing, and resources to Baltimore neighborhoods.
Johns Hopkins launches an annual survey of Baltimore area residents to help evaluate the quality of their lives
Aims to inform local policy
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Looking Forward
Neighborhood Nursing is a new care infrastructure providing universal access to comprehensive health and social services through teams of nurses and community health workers. Currently piloted in East Baltimore, Neighborhood Nursing is set to expand its geographic coverage to West Baltimore as well as to rural and suburban areas. It will offer preventive health care to more than 4,000 people in the Baltimore metropolitan area at least once a year.
Led by Sarah Szanton, dean of the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, and implemented by Healthcare Access Maryland, the initiative results from a collaboration with the Coppin State, Morgan State, and University of Maryland nursing schools.
“We’re trying to turn primary care on its head and deliver it in a completely different way,” Szanton told National Public Radio. “What’s revolutionary is that it’s for everybody” — whether they are sick or healthy, rich or poor, young or old, and no matter if they have private insurance, Medicare, Medicaid, or no insurance at all.”
Calls to Action
Join the Celebration
For 150 years, we’ve been breaking new ground—now, let’s celebrate it. Join us for gatherings, lectures, and special events that honor our legacy and look ahead. Details on future events are coming soon.
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Hopkins Retrospective
Hopkins Retrospective is an initiative designed to expand our understanding of the diverse history of Hopkins and weave that history into the university experience.
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