About Mary
Mary Washington resides in the Ednor Gardens-Lakeside neighborhood of Baltimore City. A native of Philadelphia and a graduate of the Philadelphia High School for Girls (Girls’ High), Mary is the eldest of six children and the daughter of two health care professionals.
Mary’s activism and dedication to public service started early. During her college years she was a student organizer and helped to form Black, women’s and LGBT advocacy groups on campuses across Pennsylvania. She was particularly engaged in voting rights and education as a volunteer coordinator for voter registration during Rainbow Coalition’s Freedom Summer 1984.
Mary first fell in love with Baltimore when she moved here in 1989 as a graduate student in sociology at The Johns Hopkins University, focusing on population statistics, education and the racial dynamics of the US Census, earning her Ph.D. in 1997. After four years of teaching sociology at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA, Mary made the decision to utilize her analytic skills to create and lead programs that generated a specific impact, particularly in making government and non-profits more accountable to the needs of the people they serve.
Today, as the Associate Director at an urban environmental education organization, Mary oversees programs that build community greening efforts, educate children on environmental issues, and train and employ youth and adults in green careers. Through this work, Mary is able to take her deep commitment to matters of social and environmental justice, and, using her skills in putting people together to solve problems, has made effective strides in creating a healthier, safer, and sustainable Baltimore. (Click here to see Mary’s resume)
