Founders

Rudy Lee Daniel III

Co-Founder

Rudy Lee Daniel, III was born and raised in the City of Baltimore. He attended Morgan State University and graduated with his degree in Business Marketing, there he was awarded with the 2014 & 2015 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship Honor.

He holds a Masters of Divinity degree at Howard University in Washington D.C. His research interests include Biblical Hebrew, Theology, Professional Leadership, and Education Philosophy. In 2019 Daniel was invited to participate in a Biblical Hebrew program at Oxford University. Daniel has a zeal for uplifting his community and works tirelessly to pour into the lives of others while assisting them with birthing their greatest potential and purpose. Daniel was also a 2018 fellow in the Bunting Neighborhood Leadership Program to further develop skills and relationships that will strengthen YKLA and the city of Baltimore.

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During his time as an Executive Minister at Giant Steps Church of Baltimore and the Deputy Mayor's Office of Education, he has developed programs, curriculums, and facilitated experiences that foster youth’s character development. Daniel also supported youth and served as their spiritual support during traumatic times. He currently serves as a minister in Baltimore at Friendship Baptist Church and is an English Professor at Baltimore City Community College.

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Daniel has fully immersed himself into finding solutions and empowering men to be of great character and integrity. Daniel is relentlessly doing service for his community through being a member of a Black Greek Lettered Organization, Omega Psi Phi, Fraternity Inc., Student Government Association at Howard Divinity, and becoming a Public Policy intern for Mayor Muriel Bowser in D.C. After being a Division 1 Football Athlete, Daniel has developed a passion for revealing social injustices that plague boys and men alike, particularly those within the African American community. The motto that Daniel seeks to inspire and live by is “Love God, Love People, and Prove It”. 

Ciera Daniel

Co-Founder

Ciera Daniel is an individual who is dedicated to the fight of alleviating the inequalities that minorities currently face. Specifically, Ciera approaches this fight through her commitment to urban education. She believes in empowering both children and adults in becoming aware and equipped to overcome the obstacles that they face. She embodies the credo, “To be of supreme service to all mankind,” of the Black Greek Lettered organization, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. Ciera's main sphere of impact has been around adolescent development and education. However, her holistic commitment to the community has also led her to be a senior adviser for the Friendship Outreach Center which provides food, BGE rental assistance, workforce development, and a host of other barrier-removal support. 

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Ciera became aware of the plight of minorities who are marginalized during her acquisition of a Government and Politics degree as an undergraduate at the University of Maryland, College Park. Through community service, internships, and education courses, she became knowledgeable of foundational skills necessary to serve in urban education. She went to join Teach for America Baltimore (TFA) where she taught Middle School English in the city of Baltimore at the Academy for College and Career Exploration (ACCE). During her experience as an educator she exuded integrity, commitment, passion, and resiliency. In addition, Ciera served as a Program Director for Middle Grades Partnership (MGP) where she began to touch on issues of social justice and gain experience in revolutionary leadership. She directed a school year and summer program with girls at Roland Park Country School (RPCS) and ACCE. In her role as a director, she worked toward bridging the gap of independent and public school education in order to fight issues of social justice and foster academic and social development. There, she developed a media literacy curriculum to equip minority students with the tools necessary to combat negative stereotypes that influence their self-perception and efficacy.

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Ciera’s ancestral ties, professional service, and development of meaningful friendships have cultivated her commitment to the city of Baltimore. As a 2017 Baltimore Corps fellow, Ciera worked with a local nonprofit, managing and mobilizing over 300 volunteers toward one mission.  She holds a Master of Science degree in Education Studies from Johns Hopkins University.  Ciera seeks to ambiguously gain more knowledge in the fight for equality through serving the citizens of Baltimore. Currently, she is pursuing a certificate in Nonprofit Management from Harvard University and has been recognized as one of Open Society Institute's (OSI) 2018 Community Fellows  and was selected to be apart of the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s first cohort (2019) of the Baltimore Young Leaders Development Program. Ciera shares best practices and most recent developments in adolescent development with youth practitioners in Baltimore as a facilitator of the Nationally recognized Advancing Youth Development training. In addition, Ciera collaborates with The Johns Hopkins Urban Health Institute with research on adolescent development of youth in urban areas.  Ciera was recently recognized as a Baltimore Orioles 2019 Birdland Community Hero.  

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