Doug Emhoff, the husband of Vice President Kamala Harris, will visit Baltimore with the U.S. surgeon general this week as part of a White House push to promote nutrition and access to recreational spaces, particularly in urban areas.
Emhoff, whose title is “second gentleman,” and Surgeon General Vivek Murthy will host a community roundtable for 15 students and families on Thursday at the Park Heights Academy focused on physical activity and mental health.
The event will be co-hosted by KABOOM!, a national nonprofit organization working to ensure that kids, particularly those in communities of color, have equitable access to quality places to play.
The Baltimore visit will come the day after the White House convenes a conference on Health, Nutrition and Hunger in which Emhoff is to deliver remarks.
In 2021, President Joe Biden announced a series of initiatives aimed at increasing physical activity and ending hunger by 2030.
The goals include increasing access to free school meals and to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program [SNAP], as well as boosting programs that connect people to parks and other outdoor spaces.
Emhoff was in Baltimore in August visiting an AmeriCorps service project.
The vice president came to Baltimore last year to tour a mass COVID-19 vaccination site at M&T Bank Stadium. In 2019, Harris located her presidential primary campaign headquarters in a Baltimore office building. She has likened the city’s potential and challenges to those of her hometown of Oakland, California.
