STEMing the tide 

Happy Monday, Baltimore. Or, at least, as happy of one as you can maybe have, given the recent news on the tip of seemingly everybody's tongue. 

By now, you might've seen rounds of articles about the killing of Hampden-based engineer Timothy Reynolds during a confrontation with squeegee workers. You've maybe even formed your own opinions about the shooting, of which The Baltimore Banner analyzed dashcam footage. According to the Banner, Reynolds was shot by one of the workers after wielding a bat at them. 

Many questions linger aboutReynolds' death. Many of these questions have to do with what feels like an unceasing, decades-long conversation about how to handle an acrimonious conflict. On one side are the almost exclusively Black youth and young adults who do this work, and their allies throughout the city; on the other side are the motorists and business leaders who see this work as a form of extortion, or at least too-aggressive panhandling, that keeps Baltimore's reputation in shambles.

As someone who's reported on this issue in the past, I'm without many real solutions, other than to acknowledge that fearmongering about these workers that doesn't include real policy proposals does nothing but continue to demonize Black children for poverty and disinvestment that they didn't create. But other organizations have done the actual work of trying to give squeegee workers job training and pathways that could maybe, just maybe, offer more stable (and far safer) income than cleaning people's windshields by busy intersections. 

I have to imagine that a lot of this work could involve STEM education and job training as well. So I want to ask all of you reading this: Do you know of organizations that are offering STEM or tech pathways to these young people? Moreover, did any of you work with or know Timothy Reynolds, and wish to speak to the life and character of someone whose life could otherwise get swallowed up in a broader conversation?

Let us know by replying to this email or sending one to baltimore@technical.ly.

— Technical.ly editor Sameer Rao (sameer@technical.ly)