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In the News: Baltimore City Recreation and Parks teams up with Food Recovery Network to feed families this summer. Its team was recently featured on WMAR 2 News Baltimore to highlight its efforts in increasing fresh produce for Baltimore City families in partnership with Baltimore Department of Recreation and Parks.

San francisco earns 5-star Certified Welcoming designation. Baltimore recertified as a 2-star Certified Welcoming community. Welcoming America | June 05, 2026 Decatur, GEORGIA - From a codification of the Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs (MIMA) in 2024 to a historic $2 million investment in support of immigrant families in 2025, Baltimore has clearly demonstrated its commitment to the well-being of its immigrant residents. On June 5, that commitment earned recognition when the City of Baltimore was recertified as a 2-star Certified Welcoming community by Welcoming America. Mayor Brandon M. Scott announced the recertification during his remarks at the 13th Annual Baltimore Immigration Summit, where over three hundred residents, advocates, and city staff gathered. Rachel Perić, executive director of Welcoming America, said: "We're proud to recognize Baltimore's longstanding work to build a welcoming community, and to celebrate the community members who champion these values. Given the challenging national climate, this recertification is a signal to the whole city - and to the country - that local communities are capable of leading." Mayor Brandon M. Scott said: "In Baltimore, our immigrant neighbors are seen, loved, and respected as an integral part of our city's social and economic fabric. They are our business owners, essential workers, homeowners, neighbors, and friends, and a driving force behind the historic progress and growth our city is experiencing right now. We are so proud that - together with community leaders and our residents - we have earned this recognition of our commitment to being a welcoming place for everyone who calls Baltimore home." Certified Welcoming evaluates local governments across seven areas of civic, economic, and community life through the Welcoming Standard, a roadmap for communities building toward greater inclusion. Baltimore met every criterion required for the 2-star designation and joins 44 Certified Welcoming communities nationwide. MIMA and an ecosystem of community partners. By codifying MIMA into law and augmenting its budget, Baltimore is ensuring that the office has the resources necessary to serve Baltimore's immigrant communities. Currently, the office coordinates language access efforts across city agencies and maintains steady communication with residents through a multilingual newsletter, a Community Advisory Board, and biweekly calls that bring together nonprofits, service providers, and government entities. Much of Baltimore's progress runs through organizations residents already trust. With the recent $2 million infusion to its budget from the City, MIMA has been coordinating legal, health, and human services for immigrant families in partnership with 10 different non-profit organizations. Recent measures like the Safe Spaces and Communities Act also point to a city that treats welcoming as an ongoing responsibility shared across its many neighborhoods. About Certified Welcoming. Certified Welcoming is a formal designation for local governments that have created policies and programs reflecting their values and commitment to immigrant inclusion. This innovative program assesses local governments on their efforts to include and welcome immigrants in all areas of civic, social, and economic life in their communities. With a Certified Welcoming designation, communities distinguish their local efforts, build a competitive advantage, and gain access to opportunities to share their welcoming practices on a regional, national, and global stage. Learn more at certifiedwelcoming.org. About Welcoming America. Welcoming America is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that leads a movement of inclusive communities becoming more prosperous by ensuring everyone belongs. Welcoming America Inc. believe that all people, including immigrants, are valued contributors and vital to the success of its communities and shared future. Learn more at welcomingamerica.org. About City of Baltimore. The City of Baltimore, located in Central Maryland, is the most populous city in the state and the thirtieth most populous city in the U.S. Baltimore is the birthplace of "The Star-Spangled Banner" and is home to some of the earliest National Register Historic Districts in the nation, including Fell's Point, Federal Hill, and Mount Vernon. The city is also home to the Baltimore Orioles baseball and the Baltimore Ravens football teams. Learn more at baltimorecity.gov. Media contacts. Certified Welcoming

Baltimore to replace aging emergency dispatch system after in-custody death. Key takeaways: * Baltimore secured $11.7 million for an emergency dispatch system replacement. * Mayor Brandon Scott appointed new IT director, T.J. Mayotte, to spearhead the project. * Dontae Melton Jr. died in police custody after a 40-minute medic delay during a 2025 outage. * The city might soon face litigation. Baltimore officials told an oversight panel that they were initiating a long-awaited upgrade to the city's emergency dispatching system, months after an in-custody death during an outage. The City Council oversight hearing Thursday followed Mayor Brandon Scott's appointment of a new information technology director who is spearheading the effort, and the city secured nearly $12 million in state and federal funding for the overhaul. Although Council President Zeke Cohen cautioned the council would not speak about prior outages due to "legal considerations," the hearing was also against the backdrop of the outage last June, when Baltimore Police officers waited about 40 minutes for medics before taking an unresponsive Dontae Melton Jr., 31, to a hospital, where he died hours later. Eleshiea Goode, Melton's mother, said at Thursday's hearing that her son "asked for help, and instead of help, he died in the middle of a preventable system collapse." He was on the street, handcuffed and shackled for nearly 50 minutes on the hottest day of the year, she said. Temperatures reached a high of 105 degrees that day in downtown Baltimore, according to the National Weather Service. Melton's death was ruled a homicide. "I'm asking you to fix what broke my son's life," Goode said. Larry Greenberg, an attorney for Goode and other members of Melton's family, said Friday that his team is still preparing to file a lawsuit and "pursue claims against all those responsible for this horrible and needless loss of life." The city's computer-aided dispatch, or CAD, system routes 911 calls to police and fire dispatchers, and is considered the backbone of the city's emergency-response communications. It handles about 2.1 million calls per year, according to new Chief Information Officer T.J. Mayotte, but relies on an over-20-year-old software system that has been slated for replacement for years. City officials said they had obtained $11.7 million in funding from the state and federal governments for a replacement in fiscal year 2027. Mayotte said that the process would go to procurement and vendor selection this summer and fall, but he hesitated to answer council members' questions on specifics, noting that the exact timeline would be "deeply dependent on the vendors themselves." He also noted that $11.7 million "should be the right amount to get this done" but said he didn't want to say definitively, as "it'll be a long process with vendors to figure it out." He said that ongoing investments in the city's public safety technology had been showing a return on investment, noting that there have not been any CAD meltdowns in 2026. Cohen had previously said there was a total of 12 meltdowns in 2025 and 2024. Cohen noted at the hearing that an upgraded CAD system could also integrate an improved system for responding to people in crisis. Melton died the same month as two other police-involved deaths in Baltimore; investigators or friends indicated that all three people who died last June were experiencing mental health crises. Melton approached a police vehicle on June 24, 2025, seeking help. Officers placed him in handcuffs and restraints because he repeatedly ran into the street, according to a report by Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown's office. Officers called for medics five times and waited over 40 minutes due to the CAD malfunction, though they never arrived. After he went unresponsive, police took him to a hospital, where he died hours later.