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Baltimore's Squeegee Ban: Update from Deputy Mayor Faith P. Leach

A squeegee worker walks with his spray bottle and squeegee in the middle of stopped traffic as he works a corner in Baltimore, in this 2019 photo. A decades-old debate over Baltimore's mostly youthful squeegee workers is reaching a crescendo as the city grapples with issues of crime, poverty and racial inequities, and now, with a fatal confrontation between an enraged, bat-wielding motorist and the14-year-old squeegee worker who shot him dead. The boy has been charged with first degree murder, and will be tried in adult court. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
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A squeegee worker walks with his spray bottle and squeegee in the middle of stopped traffic as he works a corner in Baltimore, in this 2019 photo. Now, the city's Squeegee Collaborative initiative is working to provide work alternatives to city youth, as it begins a targeted ban on squeegeeing at key intersections. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Today on Midday, a focus on Black youth.

A little later in the show, Tom speaks with Kristin Henning, a lawyer with the Juvenile Justice Center at the Georgetown law school about her book, The Rage of Innocence: How America Criminalizes Black Youth. 

Faith P. Leach is Baltimore City's Deputy Mayor of Equity, Health and Human Services, and oversees the city's Squeegee Collaborative initiative to provide employment alternatives to young squeegee workers. (photo courtesy Deputy Mayor's Office)
Faith P. Leach is Baltimore City's Deputy Mayor of Equity, Health and Human Services, and oversees the city's Squeegee Collaborative initiative to provide employment alternatives to young squeegee workers. (photo courtesy Deputy Mayor's Office)

But Tom begins with Faith Leach, Baltimore City Deputy Mayor of Equity, Health and Human Services. She oversees the program that went into effect last week to provide alternatives for Squeegee workers in Baltimore. Part of that program includes banning the practice of squeegeeing at a half a dozen intersections in the city. Part of it includes incentives and opportunities for the squeegee workers that will allow them to find sustainable work.

Faith Leach joins us on Zoom from her office in City Hall.

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Host, Midday (M-F 12:00-1:00)
Teria is a Supervising Producer on Midday.
Rob is a contributing producer for Midday.