Celebrate Women's History Month!
Looking for a meaningful way to celebrate Women's History Month? Join Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake as she speaks about her experiences as a successful woman in government.
Thursday, March 10
Noon - 1:30 p.m.
Westminster Hall
Stephanie Rawlings-Blake was sworn in as Baltimore’s 49th mayor on Feb. 4, 2010. In November 2011, she was elected to her first full term as mayor, receiving 87 percent of the vote in the general election. Rawlings-Blake has focused her administration on growing Baltimore’s population by 10,000 families over the next decade by improving public safety and public education and by strengthening city neighborhoods.
She became the 73rd president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) in June 2015, and serves on the USCM Board of Trustees and in key leadership positions such as the Mayors’ Water Council, and the Criminal and Social Justice Standing Committee. Rawlings-Blake also was elected to a top leadership position in the Democratic National Committee to serve as secretary, following the re-election of President Barack Obama.
In 2013, Rawlings-Blake presented "Change to Grow: A Ten-Year Financial Plan for Baltimore," the city’s first long-range financial plan. The plan includes a bold set of major reforms that amount to the most significant changes to the way the city does business in generations. The plan would help achieve the mayor’s goal to grow Baltimore by 10,000 families by eliminating a nine-year, $750 million structural budget deficit; allowing new investments in neighborhood infrastructure — including repairing roads and city facilities and rebuilding 10 recreation centers; and providing a funding surge for the demolition of more than 4,000 vacant homes; all while reducing homeowner property taxes by more than 20 percent over the next 10 years.
In 2012, Rawlings-Blake worked with state leaders to pass the Civil Marriage Protection Act and subsequent state ballot initiative, allowing same-sex couples to obtain a civil marriage license in Maryland. When the new law took effect on Jan. 1, 2013, Rawlings-Blake presided over the first same-sex marriages in Maryland’s history at a midnight ceremony at City Hall.
Rawlings-Blake also has worked to make Baltimore a welcoming city for immigrants. She signed a landmark executive order to protect new Americans from discrimination and increase access to public safety resources and city services for foreign-born city residents. In addition, Rawlings-Blake fought for a successful statewide ballot initiative, known as the Dream Act, to provide in-state tuition rates and higher education opportunities for undocumented immigrant students who attended Maryland high schools.
Rawlings-Blake served as City Council president from January 2007 to February 2010. She was first elected to the City Council in 1995, at the age of 25 — the youngest person ever elected to the Baltimore City Council. She represented the council’s 5th District from 1995 to 2004 and the 6th District from 2004 to 2007, serving communities throughout West and Northwest Baltimore. As council president, she chaired the Board of Estimates, which supervises all purchasing by the city. From 1998 to 2006, Rawlings-Blake was an attorney with the Baltimore Office of the Public Defender.
She has been honored with numerous awards. In 2013, she was given the First Citizen Award by the Maryland State Senate, a top honor for dedicated and effective participants in the process of making government work for the benefit of all. She was selected by The Daily Record as one of "Maryland’s Top 100 Women" in 2007 and 2011. The National Congress of Black Women named her a Shirley Chisholm Memorial Award Trailblazer. The National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women’s Clubs named her one of Baltimore’s "Young Women on the Move."
Rawlings-Blake is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Epsilon Omega Chapter, and The Links, Inc., Baltimore City Chapter. She has served on numerous boards and commissions, including the Baltimore Convention and Tourism Board; the Baltimore Museum of Art; the National Aquarium in Baltimore; Baltimore Substance Abuse Systems, Inc.; Living Classrooms Foundation; the Waterfront Partnership of Baltimore; and Parks and People Foundation.
Born on March 17, 1970, Rawlings-Blake is a 1988 graduate of Baltimore’s Western High School, and in 1992 she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from Oberlin (Ohio) College. She received her Juris Doctor in 1995 from what is now the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law. She is a member of the Federal Bar Association and the Maryland State Bar Association. Rawlings-Blake is a member of Douglas Memorial Community Church. She lives in Baltimore’s Coldspring neighborhood with her husband, Kent Blake, and their young daughter, Sophia.
Don't miss Mayor Rawlings-Blake at UMB's Women's History Month event! This event is free and open to UMB students, staff, and faculty of all genders. Light lunch will be provided.