BALTIMORE CORPS
The Elevation Awards provide planning grants of $10,000 and personalized support to people of color who are Baltimore City residents piloting novel approaches to strengthen Baltimore communities. The aims of the Elevation Awards are as follows:
- Directly leveraging the assets of communities to pioneer new solutions in social entrepreneurship.
- Elevating leaders of community solutions; and
- Supporting the early-stage pipeline of social entrepreneurs in Baltimore.
At the conclusion of the 10-month grant period, awardees will have the opportunity to showcase their projects to prospective funders.
Website: https://www.baltimorecorps.org/elevation-awards
Contact:
Terrell Brown, Network Manager
Email: terrell@baltimorecorps.org
BUNTING NEIGHBORHOOD LEADERSHIP PROGRAM
Established in 2016, the Bunting Neighborhood Leadership Program at Johns Hopkins Urban Health Institute is a one-of-a-kind initiative that aims to equip the next generation of Baltimore’s community activists with the knowledge, skills, and tools to be transformative leaders. This year-long fellowship:
- Enhances the capacity of young, passionate Baltimore community advocates with the skills to help improve the trajectory of health in their communities.
- Under the guidance of a community advisory board, identifies and works with engaged community leaders and academicians to serve as faculty.
- Keeps an authentic community voice at the center of the training.
- Is a safe environment to be transparent and vulnerable and grow through peer support, reflective learning, and faculty guidance.
- Teaches from a structured curriculum that combines the history of Baltimore, theories on leadership and community development, research and policies, and evidence-based practice.
Website: https://urbanhealth.jhu.edu/what-we-do/bunting-neighborhood-leadership/
Contact:
Rebkha Atnafou, MPH, Director, Bunting Neighborhood Leadership Program
Email: ratnafo1@jhu.edu
Community organizations often work in silos, these silos lead to fragmentation, fragmentation leads to duplication, and duplication leads to wasted resources – time, talent and treasure. CLLCTIVLY launched in 2019 with the first phase of our project, (CLLCTIV ASSETS) an online asset map/directory of organizations in Greater Baltimore listed by neighborhood and area of concentration. CLLCTIVLY is a place-based social change organization centering Black genius, narrative power, social networks, and resources mobilization. We are creating an ecosystem to foster collaboration, increase social impact, and amplify the voices of Black-led organizations in Greater Baltimore.
Website: https://cllctivly.org/
Contact:
Krystle Starvis, Chief Operating Officer
Email: krystle@cllctivly.org
Innovation Works supports social entrepreneurs through the full entrepreneurship journey and its five-stage social enterprise development pipeline, allowing leaders to enter the pipeline at any stage. Strategic Initiatives takes a macro look at Baltimore’s existing assets that can tackle challenges facing social enterprises and communities. We explore innovation within specific sectors. Through trusted community anchors, Innovation Works delivers social enterprise programming that ignites and develops local interest and capacity to transform neighborhood economies.
Website: https://www.iwbmore.org/
Contact:
Jay Nwachu, President and Chief Innovation Officer
Email: Jay@iwbmore.org
LOYOLA UNIVERSITY MARYLAND – SIMON CENTER FOR INNOVATION and ENTREPRENEURSHIP
The mission of the Simon Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CI&E) is to elevate innovation
and entrepreneurship at Loyola. Our vision extends beyond the University campus into
Baltimore, where the CI&E is a part of transforming Baltimore through our support for wealth
creation and job creation driven by underrepresented women entrepreneurs and innovators of
color. The Baltipreneurs Accelerator is helping build a more prosperous and equitable Baltimore. We work with ecosystem partners to provide funding, training, and mentorship for Baltimore’s innovators, including Loyola students, faculty, and staff, with a preference for women entrepreneurs and founders of color. Teams are required to attend 10 instructional and networking sessions from February through April, ending with a Demo Day pitch in early spring with cash awards.
Next year’s Baltipreneurs Accelerator will provide a minimum of $40,000 in total funding for 6-10 ventures in the Baltimore community. Eligible models include both startup businesses and innovative social ventures. Apply in Dec for our spring program to receive a $2,000 stipend, dedicated mentor, pro-bono consulting support on a project, access to office hours with Startup Executive in Residence, 1 on 1 pitch/presentation coaching sessions, a 1 on 1 financial and accounting management coaching session, access to competitive/corporate research training, access to networking platform Loyola Connect, a photo session—in other words, all the training, technical assistance, mentorship, networking opportunities, and access to capital you need to make your venture a success.
For more information go to https://www.loyola.edu/join-us/baltipreneurs/cohorts
Website: https://www.loyola.edu/join-us/baltipreneurs
Contact:
Wendy Bolger, Director
Email: webolger@loyola.edu
MORGAN STATE UNIVERSITY
Entrepreneurial Development and Assistance Center (EDAC)
EDAC connects budding and existing entrepreneurs to resources for venture management & growth. Two core programs are:
- Returning Citizens Inspired to Development Entrepreneurial Ventures
The R.I.D.E Entrepreneurship Training Program is a resource to help returning citizens explore entrepreneurship either part or full time. The training, for now, is held virtually. As part of the training, all participants will receive FREE access to a platform to create a Growth Plan (30-60-90), a small business advisor for one-on-one assistance, and a small advisory board to further help you move your idea forward. There will also be opportunities to work with other formerly incarcerated entrepreneurs learning new skills for your business.
2. The Baltimore Metro Women’s Business Center
This program manages operations for the benefit of women entrepreneurs to start, maintain and prosper for economic growth and sustainability. Morgan State University through its EDAC program embraces women entrepreneurs with access to capital, resources business education and support for their progress and community reinvestment
Website: https://www.edacmorgan.com/
Contact:
Omar Muhammad, Director
Email: omar.muhammad@morgan.edu
The Social Innovation Lab (SIL) at Johns Hopkins University accelerates emerging ventures and leaders to change Baltimore and the world. SIL supports innovative, early-stage, mission-driven ventures, and disruptive technologies to create change and opportunity in Baltimore and beyond. Our primary enterprise is our six-month Accelerator program that provides Baltimore-area social ventures the resources required to develop into thriving, sustainable startups with measurable impact.
Our annual Impact Bootcamps enable entrepreneurs to gain or enhance the essential skills to launch and lead a social venture. Programming features members of the Johns Hopkins and Baltimore-area ecosystems with an open door for new, potential partners to join upcoming bootcamps. On an enduring mission to deepen connections within Baltimore, SIL has helped over 110 startups raise millions in funding and directly impact their community and its people. SIL is open to non-profit and for-profit ventures led by Johns Hopkins faculty, students, and staff, or Baltimore community members.
Website: https://ventures.jhu.edu/programs-services/social-innovation-lab/
Contact:
Josh Ambrose, Director of Student Ventures;
Anthony Watters, Interim Director Social Innovation Lab;
Sephora Saint-Armand, Student Program Manager
Email: JoshAmbrose@jhu.edu, anthonywatters@jhu.edu, ssainta1@jhu.edu
TOWSON UNIVERSITY
The Towson University StarTUp Accelerator is an intensive eight-week, cohort-based fellowship where ventures take residency and collaborate to accelerate their ventures.
- Accepted ventures receive a $10,000 equity-free stipend as well as mentorship, founder-centric programming and exposure to successful ventures who are alumni of this model.
- Founders who have begun to introduce their services or products into the market should apply.
- Selected founders will take up residency at The STARTUP at the Armory—TU’s new state-of-the-art, entrepreneurship space in downtown Towson.
Website: https://www.towson.edu/startup/accelerator/
Contact:
Ardys Russakis, Director of Business Engagement and Operations
Email: arussakis@towson.edu
UNIVERSITY OF BALTIMORE
M.A. Nonprofit Management and Social Entrepreneurship
As nonprofit organizations fill an ever-increasing societal need by providing services in areas spanning health care, education, workforce development and support for disadvantaged populations, a new generation of nonprofit managers is in high demand. These managers must be prepared to deal head-on with the challenges that nonprofit organizations face due to their legal status, governance, and funding needs in addition to managing and meeting standards of accountability.
Contact:
Al Gourrier, Director of Nonprofit Management and Social Entrepreneurship
Email: agourrier@ubalt.edu
UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND BALTIMORE
Social Entrepreneurship Certificate
Social entrepreneurs chart their own course.
Don’t just get a job, create your own while striving to make the world a better place. As a Social Entrepreneurship post-baccalaureate certificate graduate, you will be prepared to apply principles of innovation, entrepreneurship, and design-thinking to address societal challenges.
Innovate with purpose.
Our social entrepreneurship centered curriculum provides the fundamental tools and competencies needed to take idea to action. Graduates will leave the program prepared you to harness entrepreneurial and enterprise opportunities to create transformative responses to challenges in communities and society.
Website: https://graduate.umaryland.edu/innovation/
Contact:
J. Howard Kucher, DPA, MBA, Program Director
Email: jkucher@umaryland.edu
UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND BALTIMORE COUNTY
The Community Leadership programs at UMBC prepare aspiring and practicing leaders with the skills and experience needed to generate transformative social change. We help students develop greater self-understanding, engage with the assets and challenges of urban communities, hone practical leadership skills, and build personal and professional relationships that will support their growth as leaders.
These programs are designed for working professionals and offer courses in the evening to accommodate students with full-time jobs. Classes are located in Catonsville and Baltimore City, and conduct class visits to neighborhoods, to learn directly from community and nonprofit leaders. UMBC offers a 9-course Community Leadership Master’s program (M.P.S. in Community Leadership) as well as a 4-course post-baccalaureate certificate in Community Leadership.
Website: https://professionalprograms.umbc.edu/community-leadership/
Contact:
Sally J. Scott, Graduate Program Director
Email: sjscott@umbc.edu
UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND BALTIMORE COUNTY
Alex Brown Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation
UMBC has worked closely with the Baltimore business community and UMBC faculty and staff with one vision in mind—to create a leading center for university entrepreneurism. UMBC’s entrepreneurial spirit, dynamic and diverse academic environment, commitment to excellence in research and education, and experience in economic development provide a strong platform for creating and supporting entrepreneurism in the region.
UMBC’s two degree programs in entrepreneurship include an Entrepreneurship Minor for undergraduates, and a Master’s in Professional Studies (MPS) in Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Leadership. The MPS empowers professionals to drive organizational change. Whether you are working within an existing business or want to start your own, our program will teach you the real-world skills needed to thrive. Led by seasoned entrepreneurs, our program will teach you how to bring an entrepreneurial mindset, innovative practices, and thoughtful leadership to your organization.
Website: https://entrepreneurship.umbc.edu/
Contact:
Kevin Fulmer, Graduate Program Director
Email: kevinf@umbc.edu
UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND BALTIMORE COUNTY
The Shriver Peaceworker Fellows Program was established at UMBC with the founding of the Shriver Center in 1993. Peaceworker is grounded in the early 1960s vision of Sargent Shriver and President Kennedy who realized the potential impact of Peace Corps Volunteers who would be returning home ready to apply the lessons and experiences they had gained while abroad.
The Shriver Peaceworker Program supports and engages returning Peace Corps Volunteers through a graduate level service-learning program integrating studies, service, and ethical reflection with the goal of preparing them for lives and leadership in diverse fields of public and private service. As a community engaged program of UMBC our mission is to impact pressing social needs in the Baltimore region through partnerships with community agencies involving direct and significant service of Peaceworker Fellows focused on creative solutions across a range of social concerns. The Peaceworker Program’s vision is to equip a growing network of social change leaders for lives and careers building peace and community in Sargent Shriver’s spirit of practical idealism.
Website: https://shrivercenter.umbc.edu/peaceworker/
Contact: Joby Taylor, Ph.D., Director
Email: jtaylo14@umbc.edu