Last week, OSI Director Danielle Torain spoke to the 2020 cohort of the Baltimore Young Leaders Professional Development Program. The program, run by the Annie E. Casey Foundation and Community Wealth Partners, was inspired by OSI’s 2018 report, Young, Gifted, and Underfunded, which documented local funders’ low rate of giving to youth-led movements and recommended steps funders could take to address it, including supporting more development opportunities for young leaders.
Torain joined other representatives from the local funder community, including Shanaysha Sauls, President and CEO of the Baltimore Community Foundation and a member of OSI’s Leadership Council, and Matt Gallagher, President and CEO of the Goldseker Foundation and also a member of OSI’s Leadership Council. They each discussed their foundation’s funding priorities and strategies and gave general advice for navigating philanthropy. Among the 14 members of the 2020 cohort are several OSI Community Fellows, including Ciera Daniel of Young Kings Leadership Academy, Alphonso Mayo of Mentoring Mentors, Ana Rodney of MOMCares, Fred Watkins of Lil Laughs, and Brittany Young of B-360, in addition to leaders of OSI grantees, including Ralikh Hayes and Tre Murphy of Organizing Black.
Also last week, Torain participated in a virtual conversation, sponsored by IMentor, about Wes Moore’s book, Five Days: The Fiery Reckoning of an American City, with Moore, author D. Watkins, and Cori Grainger, a recent JHU grad and program manager at Google. Watch the full conversation here.
