The Mayor’s Office of Neighborhoods, Baltimore City Health Department and Johns Hopkins Medicine and University entered into a collaboration to advise houses of worship of all faiths on strategies to safely reopen as coronavirus-related guidance evolved.

On April 26 a press event featuring Sherita Golden, Panagis Galiatsatos, Mayor Brandon Scott, Commissioner Letitia Dzirasa and Bishop James Nelson, was held.

The press conference was covered by multiple area media groups, including:

• WMAR-TV
• WJZ-TV
• Fox45
• The Baltimore Sun

As part of the medical-religious collaboration, a virtual event guiding faith-based organizations to reopen safely was held May 25. It had the largest turnout of any that the Scott administration had hosted at the time. Lisa Maragakis, Lisa Cooper, Panagis Galiatsatos, and Sherita Golden served on the panel during this event.

An outline of the event and all recommendations can be found in our newsroom.

Website and Sign-up Process

The Baltimore City Mayor’s Office created a web form where interested faith organizations could sign up to participate in the pilot program. The website link was shared with community organizations and Baltimore City faith groups and promoted through internal Johns Hopkins communications channels.

Faith Organization Selection Process

Twenty houses of worship (approximately five from each quadrant of the city) were selected to participate in the pilot program. Factors including order of sign up, projected reopening date, size and current level of COVID-19 preparation were used to make selections.

Each city quadrant is defined in accordance with the following ZIP codes:

• Quadrant 1 (Purple): 21208, 21209, 21215, 21207, 21216, 21217, 21210, 21211

• Quadrant 2 (Blue): 21212, 21239, 21234, 21236, 21251, 21214, 21206, 21218, 21213, 21237

• Quadrant 3 (Green): 21202, 21287, 21231, 21224, 21222, 21225, 21226

• Quadrant 4 (Orange): 21229, 21223, 21201, 21228, 21227, 21230, 21225 

As of Sept. 20, 2021, the medical religious partnership has served 9 places of worship in Baltimore City including:

1. Muslim Community Cultural Center of Baltimore

2. Rebirth Tabernacles of Glory

3. Union Baptist Church

4. The New Metropolitan Baptist Church

5. Providence Baptist Church

6. Greater Gethsemane Ministries

7. Ray of Hope Baptist Church

8. Israel Baptist Church of Baltimore City

9. The Seed Church

A workgroup consisting of the following individuals was created to oversee the partnership and coordinate with Baltimore City throughout the process. The workgroup meets weekly and is led and managed by Nondie Hemphill and Jeanne Hitchcock.

Workgroup members include:

• Sherita Hill Golden, vice president and chief diversity officer, professor of medicine, JHM

• Jeanne Hitchcock, interim vice president, government and community affairs, JHU/JHM

• Lisa Maragakis, senior director of infection prevention, associate professor of medicine, JHM

• Lisa Cooper, director, Urban Health Institute, Bloomberg Distinguished Professor, JHU

• Panagis Galiatsatos, co-director, Medicine for the Greater Good and assistant professor of medicine, JHU

• Nancy Molello, program director-operations and strategic initiatives, Johns Hopkins Center for Health Equity

• Katie O’Conor, faculty, Departments of Anesthesiology & Critical Care Medicine and Emergency Medicine

• Selwyn Ray, director, community affairs, Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center

• Nondie Hemphill, associate director, government and community affairs

• Chrystal Green, associate director, East Baltimore Community Affairs

• The Rev. William Johnson, community chaplain, Johns Hopkins Bayview

• Kimberly Monson, community program coordinator, Johns Hopkins Bayview

• James Biernatowski, administrative specialist