In November, OSI announced the 12 people in its 2020 cohort of OSI-Baltimore Community Fellows, including two Youth Activist Community Fellows, whose fellowships are supported by Open Society Foundations’ Global Youth Exchange Program. The new Fellows will each receive $60,000 over 18 months to support local projects designed to address problems in Baltimore’s underserved communities.
TEHYA JENAE FAULK
Tehya is establishing Orphan We, which will use digital spaces to collect and archive stories of people on the edge of society — primarily those with intersectional identities.
ATIYA WELLS
Atiya will establish Baltimore Living in Sustainable Simplicity (BLISS) Meadows, which will provide the Frankford community access to fresh food and a connection to nature.
TROY STATON
In partnership with various healthcare providers and other partner organizations, Troy will establish More Than a Shop as a network of barbershops and beauty salons that will bring healthcare, job training, and mental health resources to communities throughout Baltimore City.
MONICA LAPENTA
Monica will establish Be a Chef for a Day (BaCFaD) Mobile Teaching Kitchen and Training Kitchen to engage North Baltimore youth ages 14 to 21 in culinary education and job training by making fresh meals for people in need.
JAMES HENDERSON SR.
James will establish Pathways to College and Entrepreneurship as an innovative, multi-layered education program designed to expose underserved Baltimore youth to college readiness and entrepreneurshipopportunities.
DARIUS WILMORE
Darius will establish The Short Kuts Narrative Therapy Initiative as an innovative social impact project utilizing the creative process of therapeutic storytelling. The process is designed to aid in the healing of generational, personal, familial, professional, and environmental trauma.
ATEIRA GRIFFIN
Through Building Our Nation’s Daughters (BOND), Ateira will encourage healthy two-generation relationships, economic mobility, and educational achievement by providing single mothers and their daughters in grades 5 to 12, with mentoring, counseling, education, and career support.
ELIZABETH FINNE
Through the Parole Hearing Preparation Project, Elizabeth will work to systematize parole hearing preparation by developing appropriate and effective materials, by empowering inmates and their family members to make their best case for parole release, and by engaging and guiding volunteers to support people in parole hearing preparation.
BREE JONES
Bree is working to establish Parity, an equitable housing development company that is building a collective of motivated individuals who are cooperatively reviving West Baltimore neighborhoods through homeownership, civic engagement, and development without displacement.
WAYNE PAIGE*
Wayne will establish The Beautiful Baltimore Project to support the educational and social development needs of McElderry Park’s young people, incorporating the goals and passions of participants.
E.V. YOST
E.V. will establish The Queer Crisis Response Unit (QCRU), an emergency services alternative designed to reduce the collateral consequences of criminalization experienced by the TLGBQIA+ survivors of interpersonal and systemic violence in Baltimore City.
ISAIAH JOHNSON
Isaiah will establish The Greenmount East Leadership Project toconnect community youth to positive role models who will assist them with developing life skills, healthy coping skills, and sound decisionmaking skills.
