Marion Pines presents strategies for implementing large-scale initiatives

Date: January 1, 1970

At Optimal Solutions Group, LLC’s (Optimal’s) Brown Bag lecture series last Wednesday, Marion Pines shared her insights about successfully implementing initiatives.

Pines, cofounder and co-operator of the Baltimore “innovation high school” Academy for College and Career Exploration (ACCE), presented a list of guiding principles for successful initiative implementation. Citing her experiences in establishing the ACCE back in 2004, Pines stressed the importance of data collection, staff selection, and having passion for the project.

Flexibility and collaboration, negotiating skills, and sustainability strategies were some principles on Pines’ list that she says helped the ACCE reach its current success. The achievements include a college enrollment rate of 85 percent, dropout rate of two percent, and the graduation of three senior classes. Additionally, the high school has established strong partnerships with local employers who participate in the school’s junior-level internship program.

Pines founded the Sar Levitan Center for Social Policy Studieswithin the Institute for Policy Studies at Johns Hopkins University in 1995 and has worked to improve the outcomes for at-risk populations, particularly for disconnected youth and ex-offenders, for almost 40 years. She has also taken city- and statewide leadership roles in revitalizing neighborhoods and reducing the high school dropout rate in Baltimore and other Maryland communities.