Program Empowers the Next Generation of Nonprofit Leaders in Baltimore

The Annie E. Casey Foun­da­tion, togeth­er with Com­mu­ni­ty Wealth Part­ners, is work­ing to equip young lead­ers in Bal­ti­more with the tools and sup­port need­ed to cre­ate self-suf­fi­cient, sus­tain­able nonprofits.

Launched in May 2019, the Bal­ti­more Young Lead­ers Pro­fes­sion­al Devel­op­ment Pro­gram will run for six months and help lead­ers from 13 orga­ni­za­tions strength­en their fundrais­ing, bud­get­ing, board devel­op­ment and data-analy­sis skills.

The 15 par­tic­i­pants are:

• Michaela Brown, Black Lead­ers Orga­niz­ing for Change;
• Ciera Daniel, Young Kings’ Lead­er­ship Academy;
• Kar­lene Gra­ham, Well­ness Ally;
• Rashad Hawkins, B‑More Awe­some Inc.;
• Ralikh Hayes, Black Lead­ers Orga­niz­ing for Change;
• Jamal Jones, Bal­ti­more Alge­bra Project;
• Tonee Law­son, The Be. Organization;
• Alphon­so Mayo, Men­tor­ing Mentors;
• Eli­jah Miles, Ten­dea Family;
• Evelia Miller, New Lens;
• Tre Mur­phy, Black Lead­ers Orga­niz­ing for Change;
• Ana Rod­ney, MOMCares;
• Rashad Sta­ton, Bal­ti­more City Pub­lic Schools;
• Reuben Wynn, Youth as Resources; and
• Brit­tany Young, B360 Baltimore.

A study by the Open Soci­ety Insti­tute-Bal­ti­more inspired the pro­gram. The study and result­ing report, Young Gift­ed and Under­fund­ed, reveals that many youth lead­ers in Bal­ti­more believe that:

• their age is bar­ri­er to receiv­ing funding;
• they lack the tools and sup­port to cre­ate strong, self-suf­fi­cient organizations;
• the grant­mak­ing process is bur­den­some and shaped by dis­trust and racial bias; and
• phil­an­thropy pri­or­i­tizes solu­tions to prob­lems favored by aca­d­e­mics and experts instead of embrac­ing strate­gies shaped by communities.

Par­tic­i­pant Jamal Jones, 27, co-exec­u­tive direc­tor of the Bal­ti­more Alge­bra Project, com­pared the program’s aims to learn­ing how to make din­ner for someone.

“If you’re going to make din­ner for anoth­er per­son, you should prob­a­bly know what they like and how they like it. We need to know: What are fun­ders look­ing for and how are they look­ing for it?” says Jones, whose group facil­i­tates teach­ing Bal­ti­more youth advanced math and orga­nizes them to fight for fair edu­ca­tion­al oppor­tu­ni­ties. ​“I think this pro­gram will give us a much bet­ter sense of what fun­ders want because we’ll be talk­ing to and learn­ing direct­ly from phil­an­thropic leaders.”

Tal­ib Horne, direc­tor of Casey’s Bal­ti­more Civic Site, is look­ing ahead — to the program’s long-term ben­e­fits. ​“Young peo­ple are the future lead­ers of phil­an­thropy and social change,” he says. ​“So, it’s crit­i­cal that we sup­port their work and pro­fes­sion­al devel­op­ment now.”

See how young peo­ple are reshap­ing Baltimore’s work­force system