By Megan Sayles
AFRO Business Writer
msayles@afro.com
CLLCTIVLY, a Baltimore-based social change organization, is working in partnership with the Center for Social Impact Strategy (CSIS) at the University of Pennsylvania to launch a new fellowship program. The Drs. Elmer and Joanne Martin Social Impact Fellowship is designed to arm social entrepreneurs with the tools and confidence they need to create social change in Baltimore.
The first cohort will accept twelve social entrepreneurs who hail from Charm City. Applications are due by Aug. 30, and chosen entrepreneurs will be selected by Sep. 20.
“This program not only honors the incredible legacy of Dr. Elmer and Joanne Martin but also invests in the future of Baltimore by equipping social entrepreneurs with the resources they need to lead transformative change,” said Jamye Wooten, founder of CLLCTIVLY, in a statement to the AFRO. “Dr. Yanique Redwood, CLLCTIVLY’s scholar-practitioner in residence, is supporting the development of the fellowship and is infusing liberatory leadership principles into the design of the program. We look forward to seeing the innovative solutions and leadership that will emerge from this cohort.”
The new fellowship will run from October 2024 to March 2025. Each cohort member will be given $2,000 per month to support them while they participate in the program. The fellowship will cover topics, including social impact strategy, business models for social enterprises and the role of digital media in social movement. Participants will also create a capstone project to present to an audience of potential supporters at the program’s end.
In order to be considered for the fellowship, social entrepreneurs must lead an initiative, organization or project engineered to devise solutions for systemic social issues and challenges. They must also have a strategy to finance their work beyond obtaining grant funding and gifts.
“I am so proud and excited that the Center for Social Impact Strategy will support this important and historic initiative,” said Ariel Schwartz, managing director of the center, in a statement to the AFRO. “I am thrilled to be working with CLLCTIVLY to provide tools, resources and a learning and engagement platform for the fellows to cultivate their social ventures and fill their own cups.”
Drs. Elmer and Joanne Martin started The National Great Blacks in Wax Museum with four wax figures purchased in 1980. By 1983 they couple had a storefront museum in Baltimore, operating the first African-American history wax museum in the country together as a dynamic husband and wife duo. Today, the Baltimore-based institution maintains nearly 150 figures of prominent African Americans who have made their mark in time.
The Martins established the museum to fuel interest in Black history, while also supporting community organizations and advancing economic development in the East North Avenue corridor.
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