Charm City Dreamers

Enjoy our latest episode with Marissa Jachman, the Executive Director of the Erin Levitas Foundation. Erin Levitas (Marissa's cousin) died from cancer at age 22. A senior in college, Levitas was about to head to law school when she learned of her terminal diagnosis. The family created the Erin Levitas Foundation to honor her memory and to make sure the work she wanted to see in the world could happen: working with teens and young adults to prevent sexual assault.

Ana Rodney is the founder of MOMCares. MOMCares is a postpartum doula program designed to support mothers of color in the NICU who identify themselves as under supported and facing financial stressors. MOMCares provides packaged meals, transportation, bedside support, self care opportunities and child care for older siblings to mothers in need. 

Eric Jackson is an organizer, educator, and filmmaker, humbly serving as the visionary and a co-founder of Black Yield Institute, committed to building a movement toward Black Land and Food Sovereignty in Baltimore. Currently, he and his team are committed to a 1.25 acre urban agriculture operation and building a cooperatively-owned grocery store in South Baltimore, while also conducting Black-led research, facilitating political education, and organizing an action network.   

Wendy Jeffries is the founding Executive Director of TasteWise Kids. TasteWise Kids empowers kids to think about food in new ways, to explore their own sense of taste, and to build healthy eating habits. Learning directly from farmers, chefs and other food professionals kids learn food comes from and how to prepare their own healthy food options. 

Nichole Mooney is the Executive Director and Founder of Black Girls Cook (BGC). BGC is a non-profit organization with a mission to teach adolescent girls of color self-actualization techniques and life-skills through the use of culinary arts and edible gardening. Hands-on cooking classes are not taught in schools and businesses that teach cooking classes for kids are very expensive. Therefore, girls living in households with limited incomes and don’t have access to healthy food options tend to eat convenience foods which over time impacts their health in a negative way. Food equity and access to cooking classes is a serious issue in inner-city communities and Black Girls Cook aims to alleviate the problem one girl at a time.

In this episode we interview executive director of Moveable Feast Sue Elias. Moveable Feast strives to foster a community that cares for men, women and children living with HIV/AIDS, cancer, and other life-threatening illnesses by preparing and delivering nutritious meals and groceries and providing nutritional counseling and other services. This is a continuation of our series on Food Resiliency and specifically explores food as medicine and healthcare.

Matt Burke is the executive director of Food Rescue Baltimore. In this episode we discuss how access to food is a basic human right, and should not be dependent on class or economic interests. Food Rescue Baltimore is dedicated to food justice: ensuring equal access to nutritious food, and providing for those in need in Baltimore's communities.

Farmer Nell is the founder and owner of City Weeds, an innovative urban agricultural business in Baltimore, that is striving to make healthy food options available in the city’s food deserts. He also founded Be More Green which promotes youth empowerment. In this episode we discuss how he reimagines the corner store to become place to promote healthy living.

Ms. Freishtat is Baltimore City’s first Food Policy Director and is the Chief of Food Policy & Planning Division in the Department of Planning. She created and oversees the Baltimore Food Policy Initiative (BFPI) with the goal to address food system policy and to build an equitable and resilient urban food system. She works city-wide with many government departments to align priorities and projects around improving the Baltimore City food environment. Recognizing that government can’t address food access alone, she uses a multi-sector perspective and engages with many agencies, nonprofits, community groups and stakeholders to dismantle policy barriers, facilitate new partnerships and leverage funding to implement innovative solutions to address food access and urban agriculture issues in Baltimore. 

In this episode we interview Stephen Garten the founder of Charity Charge which is a B corporation focused on social change. Charity charge is empowering consumers to help non-profits and helping non-profits receive access to financial products. We also discuss what is social entrepreneurship and how we measure social impact & change. This episode was a Mcdonogh Alumni conversation webinar that we have converted into a Charm City Dreamer episode. Enjoy!

In this episode we interviewed Dr. Panagis Galiatsatos a pulmonary critical care doctor at Johns Hopkins, researcher for NIH, vaccine consultant for Astrazeneca and founder of the community non-profit social health organization Medicine For The Greater Good. We explore the current facts around the vaccine, steps to prevent spread, and equip our listeners on how to best stay informed & up to date on COVID 19.

Sam is the founder of Baltimore Votes and the Director of Full Participation Program at the National Conference on Citizenship (NCoC). He leads NCoC’s efforts to cultivate the country’s largest network of local leaders committed to ensuring their communities achieve full participation in elections. Locally, Baltimore Votes is committed to working towards a future where every person, in every precinct votes in every election, and that work doesn’t stop just because our city is in the middle of a health crisis. Your support in this unprecedented time means so much to us.

Valeria Fuentes is the founder of Roots and Raíces, which is a platform for artists, musicians, and activists to highlight, support, and celebrate immigrants in Baltimore through the arts and civic engagement. In this episode we focus on civic engagement and voting initiatives within the hispanic community. She is also on the advisory board of Baltimore Votes.

In this episode we discuss voting rights for people who have been affected by the criminal justice system. Out for Justice, Inc. (OFJ) is a grassroots nonprofit organization that was founded in 2006 in Baltimore, Maryland by a group of formerly incarcerated individuals who were ready and willing to work but repeatedly denied employment due to their criminal record. With the support of justice-impacted individuals, their friends, and their family members, OFJ strives to bring about policy reform that ends employment barriers and perpetual punishment that adversely affects citizens impacted by the criminal justice system.

Natasha Murphy is a firm believer in enacting meaningful change via informed planning, policy, and advocacy. Natasha proudly serves as the Deputy Director of Advocacy for Black Girls Vote, Inc. a nonprofit, grassroots organization focused on engaging, educating, and empowering women of color to leverage their voting power to transform the democratic process. 

Brittany is the founder of B360 which utilizes dirt bike culture to end the cycle of poverty, disrupt the prison pipeline, and build bridges in communities. Through a STEM education program, community engagement, workforce pipe-lining and events , we equip youth and adults with the skills to secure educational and career opportunities in STEM fields, motor sports and  beyond! 

Adam is the executive director of Libraries Without Borders and the co-founder of the Digital Equity Coalition. He advocates for dynamic programs that increase access to information by meeting people where they are—whether through digital literacy classes in Laundromats or health workshops in churches. In 2017, he launched the Legal Literacy Initiative to help public libraries deliver legal information to underserved communities across the US. He also launched the Baltimore Digital Equity Coalition which brought together 50 organizations to support a rapid response and coordinated actions during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Jacob is the CEO of Catalyte. Catalyte believes that aptitude is equally distributed, but opportunity is not. They find hidden technology talent others can’t. The company provides new opportunities for sustainable and diverse tech talent that powers transformational software engineering ‒ when, where and how it’s needed – and accelerates business outcomes.  Listen to this week's episode to learn more about the work they are doing in Baltimore and the national implications for the future of our workforce.

Delali Dzirasa is the CEO and founder of Fearless, a full stack digital services firm in Baltimore, Maryland with a mission to create software with a soul - tools that empower communities and make a difference. Delali is also the Chair of Hack Baltimore, a city-wide innovation movement that teams up technologists, civic leaders and city residents to design sustainable solutions for Baltimore’s biggest challenges. He is passionate about increasing the rate of city youth heading into STEM fields and works closely with city nonprofits to provide funding and mentorship programs in city schools

In this episode we explore how Mesh Networks are helping to provide digital equity with Jonathan Moore the CEO of Rowdy Orbit and Alexandria Warrick Adams the Executive Director of Elev8. Rowdy Orbit focuses on digital transformation within underserved communities and Elev8 Baltimore provides out-of-school time opportunities and coordinates school-based health services, resources, support and outreach for families in Baltimore. Together Elev8 and Rowdy orbit are collaborating to help bring digital access to underserved communities in Baltimore.