Founder and Executive Director

Eboni Wiggins, is a motivated communications professional, business owner and visionary. She spent 10 years in the quality assurance she became aware of and began to explore her Ikigai (a reason for being) she left the corporate work environment hoping to increase her community and social involvement.

In 2017, she was awarded the Baltimore Corps Fellowship and was placed in Baltimore City Public Schools, Office of Communications. She is the owner of a consulting company (Be Light Media, www.belightmedia.net) that offers web and communications support to small business owners and social entrepreneurs. Her personal mission is to be a light and resource to her community and strives to offer her gifting and talents, to the nonprofit she is developing (Lantern Mindsets, www.lanternmindsets.org) as well as ones she serves.

Board member

Folklorist, Efia N. Dalili, Ph.D. received her degree from the University of Pennsylvania and is currently the director of the Baltimore Birthing Project. Dr. Dalili’s experience as an independent dance scholar and choreographer based in Baltimore Maryland. She teaches Upper School English at McDonogh School in Owings Mills, Maryland.

Dr. Dalili was a member of the All-African People’s Revolutionary Party from 1985 to 2003.  During that time she was a coordinator of the All-African Women’s Revolutionary Union in California, Pennsylvania, New York, and Maryland. Dr. Dalili has presented papers at Morgan State University, San Diego State University, University of Pennsylvania, Howard University, Laney College, and Cornell University on the subject of Pan-Africanism and Women.

Chairman of the Board

Nigel-Ray received his Bachelor’s in English Literature from Saint Bonaventure University in 2006. He then returned to his hometown of Brooklyn, NY, to develop and strengthen his client and customer relationship skills in the information technology, marketing, and financial services industries. 

Advisory Board

Derrell Frazier is a junior studying government affairs and public policy at The University of Baltimore. He is an experienced community organizer with a demonstrated history of working in the public sector. Skilled in Youth development, Management, Networking, Community Engagement, and Leadership. He has focused his career on Children’s Advocacy, Social Justice and being a public servant. He is passionate about educational equity, criminal justice reform and social justice. Growing up in Baltimore City, He has faced a number of challenges and grew up without his parents. Being raised by his single grandmother along with 10 other siblings, he is familiar with how challenging it can be trying to be successful in an environment full of barriers. He has a unique understanding of how important it is to have adults advocate on behalf of their children and the benefit of mentoring. He is dedicated to improving the outcome of success for young African American men in Baltimore City and previously incarcerated offenders.  Currently, he serves as a mentor and work to motivate others who face the same difficulties that he has witnessed himself.

“It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.” – Frederick Douglas

Advisory Board

Menes Yahudah, an artist and Cultural Arts educator, West African drumming career has span over 35 years. He is a 1994 graduate of Baltimore City College and received the 2006 Maryland Apprenticeship Grant and became an OSI-Baltimore Community Fellow in 2015, for his project "Muze It Festival".

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At the tender age of two, Menes began drumming with his father and Baltimore’s Druid Hill “Park Vibe”.  He later began his professional career as a drummer for the Sankofa African Dance Theater in Baltimore Maryland.  Over the years, he has continued to perform with numerous professional companies and ensembles. In 2006, after devoting 15 years in apprenticeship to Baile McKnight [a Master Drum Craftsman, Drummer, Folklorist, and Educator], Menes received the Maryland Apprenticeship Grant through the Maryland State Arts Council. Menes also spent many years studying under, Master Drummer Mamady Keita (and other village drummers during his numerous visits to the continent of Africa).

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Menes has written and directed musical experiences including When the Moon Cries, which explores the evolution of African-American relationships on a multi-media scale. A strong advocate for community work, he facilitates weekly community drum classes, to nurture and stimulate artistic, personal, and professional development.