GreenLight Announces Founding Executive Director for Baltimore

Ryan Turner joins organization to lead 10th GreenLight site

Baltimore, MD – July 27, 2021 – GreenLight Fund welcomes Ryan Turner as the founding Executive Director of its tenth expansion site, GreenLight Fund Baltimore. A Baltimore native, Turner will partner with community, industry, entrepreneurial and philanthropic leaders and residents to bring social innovations to Baltimore that fill community-identified unmet needs, help break down entrenched barriers, and address deep-rooted racial disparities in order to create opportunities for children and families to thrive.

Talib Horne, Director Baltimore Civic Site, Annie E. Casey Foundation and GreenLight ED search committee member shared his enthusiasm, “I am excited to see that Greenlight Baltimore is moving forward with its vital mission to help build an equitable and bright future for the city. Ryan will lead important work to address needs identified by community members — and I very much look forward to watching the progress he makes to build partnerships and implement innovative new programs with his new team.”

Throughout the course of his career in the human service and nonprofit sectors, Turner has worked actively to establish equitable social support structures for communities that have been impacted by systemic racism. He has utilized his community organizing and grass roots background to examine community needs and implement effective and sustainable programs for populations experiencing poverty. Most recently, Turner was Executive Director at Community Law in Action (CLIA), a Baltimore-based youth leadership and advocacy organization. Under his leadership, CLIA developed a youth diversion initiative that directs youth who have been involved with the justice system into an opportunity pipeline that provides college/career access, wrap-around support and advocacy training. Prior to that, he founded and served as Executive Director at The Akoben Foundation, a Baltimore nonprofit focused on ensuring pre-K through third grade students read at or above grade level. In 2019, Turner was recognized as a Very Important Professional by The Daily Record and later recognized by the Black Business Review as a top 40 under 40 professional.

“GreenLight’s commitment to partnering with the community and leveraging an authentic lens of equity draws me to this work,” said Turner. “Baltimore deserves authentic, innovative and equitable-centered programs that work with residents to improve communities. I am proud to be a homegrown Baltimorean assisting in the process of creating change for my city.”

In his new role, Turner will assemble a local Selection Advisory Council (SAC) made up of a diverse group of community leaders and residents that will work alongside GreenLight throughout their selection process using the GreenLight Method. The community-driven annual process seeks to find the most effective social innovations not yet present locally to address the needs that matter most to Baltimore residents facing barriers to prosperity. Turner and the SAC will look deeply at the racial and economic disparities in the region and the systems and policies that have led to those disparities and identify opportunities for impact. The process will include searching the country for proven programs best suited to tackle locally-identified unmet needs, and selecting and investing in the replication of an innovative program with significant, evidence-based outcomes. GreenLight Baltimore will help the selected organization reach and sustain impact locally with on-the-ground support, multi-year funding, strategic partnership development and accountable measurement systems.

GreenLight Fund’s CEO and Co-founder, Margaret Hall remarked, “We’re thrilled to have Ryan on the team. His experience building programs, his focus on racial equity and his commitment to Baltimore will make him an outstanding leader in this community-driven work.” John Simon, GreenLight Fund’s Co-founder and Board Chair echoed Margaret’s enthusiasm: “I’m excited that Ryan, with his strong local roots, will be leading the charge in Baltimore, addressing entrenched issues with proven innovations that will bring meaningful and measurable change.”

A diverse group of more than 80 individuals, companies and foundations have contributed over $5M to support the work of GreenLight Baltimore over its first five years in the city. GreenLight Baltimore co-founding funders include: Anonymous; The Abell Foundation; The William L. and Victorine Q. Adams Foundation; The Annie E. Casey Foundation; The Associated: Jewish Federation of Baltimore; Peter and Millicent Bain; The Baltimore Community Foundation; The Baltimore Ravens; Baltimore Gas & Electric; Bank of America; Patricia P Baum, The Baum Foundation; Ed and Ellen Bernard; Rick Berndt; John and Nina Bond; David and Jernee Bramble; Sana and Andy Brooks; Brown Advisory; Brown Capital Management; Eddie and Sylvia Brown; Mitchell and Rebecca Brown; The Bunting Family Foundation; Linda and Mark Caplan; Catholic Charities of Baltimore; Jack and Cynthia Cavanaugh; Charm City Run; Renee and George Christoff; David and Allison Clapp; John and Stephanie Connaughton; Charlie and Katie Constable; Continental Realty Corporation; Melissa and Jonathan Cordish; Diana and Clinton Daly; Byron Deese; Deloitte; Christy and David DiPietro; Céline Dufétel and Brian Stafford; Marilynn Duker and Dale McArdle; Edward and Susan Dunn; Dr. Letitia and Delali Dzirasa; Elbow Fund; Fearless; Guy Flynn and Nupur Parekh Flynn; France-Merrick Foundation; Russell and Selah Fugett; The Fund for Change; Gallagher, Evelius & Jones LLP; Goldseker Foundation; Goldsmith Family Foundation; Doug and Jody Greenstein; The Hackerman Foundation; Rian Hargrave; Fagan Harris; Jeff and Shelly Hettleman; Richard and Margaret Conn Himelfarb; The David and Barbara B. Hirschhorn Foundation; Henry and Nancy Hopkins; Howard Bank; Freeman and Jackie Hrabowski; iHeartMedia; The Zanvyl and Isabelle Krieger Fund; Johns Hopkins University; Josh and Kara Levinson; Lifebridge Health; M&T Bank; The Madeline Foundation; MCB Real Estate; Wes and Dawn Moore; David and Betsy Nelson; Anne and Yehuda Neuberger; Passano Family Foundation; PNC Bank; The Presidents’ RoundTable; Reginald F. Lewis Foundation; Mark A Reid; Arnie and Alison Richman; The Rodgers Family Fund; Brian and Mary Jo Rogers; Michael Rosenbaum and Amy Kiesel; Rosenberg Martin Greenberg LLP; Ben and Esther Rosenbloom Foundation; Sandy Hillman Communications; The Shelter Foundation; Scott Sherman and Julie Rothman; John and Sue Simon; Robert and Terri Smith; David Stack; Stifel Foundation; STX; Jordan Thomas; T. Rowe Price; The Under Armour Foundation; United Way of Central Maryland; The University of Baltimore; The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation; Wells Fargo; Wiese Family Charitable Fund; Wm T. Burnett & Co.; and Matthew and Christine Wyskiel Family Charitable Gift Fund.