Council President Stephanie Rawlings-Blake
410-396-4804
410-539-0647 (fax)
Room 400, City Hall
CouncilPresident@baltimorecity.gov
Council President's Official Swearing-In Remarks
Baltimore voters elected Stephanie Rawlings-Blake Council President in November 2007. City Council members had elected Rawlings-Blake City Council President in January 2007 to fill the unexpired term of former Council President Sheila Dixon, who became Baltimore’s Mayor upon Governor O’Malley’s election. Rawlings-Blake was first elected to the Baltimore City Council in 1995 at age 25, the youngest person ever elected to the City Council. She is currently serving her fourth term on the City Council.
During her first term, Rawlings-Blake was the lead sponsor of successful legislation to eliminate illegal dumping in Baltimore, as well as the lead sponsor of legislation to address the police misconduct of racial profiling. She has also proposed legislation to make the homes of chronic noise polluters subject to nuisance abatement laws. In 2003 Rawlings-Blake introduced legislation creating Baltimore City’s Operation Crime Watch program, which in 2004 received the Governor’s Award for "Outstanding Proactive Crime Prevention Programs in Maryland." She has also served as Chair of the City Council’s Night Life Task Force.
As Chair of the City Council’s powerful Budget and Appropriations Committee, Rawlings-Blake secured funding for increased after-school opportunities for Baltimore’s youth and the City’s Healthy Neighborhood Initiative. In 2006, she changed the tenor of the annual budget process by insuring the voice of the Council was heard during budget negotiations. As a result of her leadership on the annual budget process, consensus building and empowerment among the Council was fostered and the needs of diverse interest groups, and most importantly, the citizens of Baltimore City were met.
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 College in Oberlin, Ohio. She received her Juris Doctor from the University of Maryland School of Law in 1995.
Council President Rawlings-Blake was an attorney with the Baltimore Office of the Public Defender from 1998 to 2006. She is a member of the Federal Bar Association and the Maryland State Bar Association. Rawlings-Blake is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Epsilon Omega Chapter and a former At-Large Member of the Alliance of Black Women Attorneys.
As Council President, she chairs the City’s Board of Estimates, which oversees and administers the fiscal policy of the City. The Board of Estimates conducts formal hearings on City agencies’ operating and capital budget requests. The Board is also in charge of awarding contracts and supervising all purchasing by the City.
Council President Rawlings-Blake serves on numerous boards and commissions, including the Baltimore City Human Services Commission, Live Baltimore Home Center, Maryland Science Center, National Aquarium in Baltimore, Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association, Living Classrooms Foundation, Baltimore Hotel Corporation, Waterfront Partnership of Baltimore, Park Heights Community Health Alliance, and Khepra Group.
Council President Rawlings-Blake has been honored with numerous awards. Most recently, The Daily Record selected her as one of "Maryland’s Top 100 Women." The National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women’s Clubs named her one of Baltimore’s "Young Women on the Move." She has received the "Hearts of Love Recognition Award" from Aunt Hattie’s Place, and the "Passing the Torch Legacy Award" from Baltimore African American Real Estate Professionals.
A member of Douglas Memorial Community Church, Council President Rawlings-Blake lives in Baltimore’s Coldspring neighborhood with her husband Kent Blake and their young daughter Sophia.