Baltimore’s CLLCTIVLY launches new social impact fellowship

By Andrea StevensAFRO Staff Writerastevens@afro.com

Inside a city long defined by both struggle and creativity, a new generation of leaders is gathering to build a different kind of future.

CLLCTIVLY, a Baltimore-based social change organization, has announced the second cohort of the Drs. Elmer & Joanne Martin Social Impact Fellowship, an initiative that unites 18 Black changemakers from across Baltimore’s arts, education, health and technology sectors. The six-month program, running from October through March, offers a $2,000 monthly stipend and training in partnership with the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Social Impact Strategy.

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Jamye Wooten, founder of CLLCTIVLY, leads the Martin Social Impact Fellowship, a program that provides mentorship, training and support to Black changemakers across Baltimore.
(Photo Courtesy/ Jamye Wooten)

For founder Jamye Wooten, the fellowship is more than professional development. It is a collective act of restoration. 

“Most leadership programs are built around individual advancement,” he said. “Our work has always been about the ‘we.’ When one fellow grows, the whole network benefits.”

The fellowship’s mission to lift the entire network of Black entrepreneurs, creatives and other changemakers, reflects broader disparities: high-growth entrepreneurship remains overwhelmingly White, with Black founders significantly underrepresented.
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The National Bureau of Economic Research reports that “28 percent of high-growth startups are run by women, although women make up 45 percent of the overall labor force. Fewer than 10 percent of entrepreneurs are Black.”

For participants like Jess Solomon, the fellowship provides not just professional development but also the space and support to pursue culturally impactful projects that address urgent community needs.

Jess Solomon, is part of the second cohort of the Martin Social Impact Fellowship, using comedy, research and storytelling to challenge harmful narratives about Baltimore. (Photo Courtesy/ Jess Solomon)
“Being part of the Martin Social Impact Fellowship is giving me the space, time and support to move forward a cultural project that feels urgent and alive,” said Solomon. “It means a lot to be seen in this way and to be in community with changemakers who are building and stewarding their work through a liberatory lens.” 

The fellowship’s target network spans the city’s Black social economy in a centuries-old tradition of cooperation and community wealth-building. The fellowship’s namesakes, sociologists Elmer and Joanne Martin, devoted their lives to documenting those traditions and founded the National Great Blacks In Wax Museum. Their work on and highlighting of the “helping tradition” in Black families continues to shape the CLLCTIVLY’s vision.
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Dr. Joanne Martin says she feels both pride and continuity as the new class begins.

“Baltimore has always been full of fighters,” said Martin. “We are not just the city of ‘The Wire.’ We are a city of uplift, of churches, of community builders. This fellowship reminds people of that.”

The fellows include organizers, artists, technologists and educators already working at the grassroots level. Wooten said selections were based not only on individual excellence but also collective balance, ensuring the group reflected Baltimore’s diversity.

“We were intentional about shaping a collective,” he said. “They form a regenerative ecosystem that sustains and strengthens itself through shared contribution.”
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Bobby Tunmise Holmes, founder of Son of a Dream, participates in the Martin Social Impact Fellowship, connecting with a network of Black social entrepreneurs to grow projects that strengthen the community. (Photo Courtesy/ Bobby Tunmise Holmes)
Each week, fellows meet online and at in-person retreats. Sessions weave social impact strategy with African-centered traditions, guided by scholar Dr. Itihari Toure. This year’s curriculum drew inspiration from “Imagination: A Manifesto” by Dr. Ruha Benjamin, who will join the group for a live discussion.

The fellowship’s combination of mentorship, a culturally grounded curriculum and collaborative sessions is exactly what participants believe will be transformative for their work and community impact.

“I’m grateful for the opportunity to participate in CLLCTIVLY’s Martin Fellowship,” said Bobby Tunmise Holmes, a cohort participant and founder of Son of a Dream. “This program gives me the chance to connect, learn and grow within a dynamic collective of Black social entrepreneurs who are committed to strengthening our community.” 

Martin sees the fellowship’s growth as part of Baltimore’s enduring legacy of mutual aid. 
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“We give what we can to the struggle,” she said. “That’s how we’ve always built our communities.”

For Wooten, the vision is generational: “The fellowship is a seed. When we plant together, we grow together.”

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