Baltimore Community Foundation Announces 2026 Neighborhood Spotlight Award Winners
BCF honors grassroots leaders transforming Baltimore neighborhoods; each winner will direct a $5,000 grant to a local nonprofit, bringing the program's total to 50 leaders honored since its inception
BALTIMORE, Sept. 29, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Baltimore Community Foundation (BCF), a nonprofit organization that connects people who are passionate about their community and purposeful in their philanthropy, announced the 10 winners of its 2026 Neighborhood Spotlight Awards.
Now in its fifth year, the Neighborhood Spotlight Awards celebrate the work of grassroots leaders who have driven positive change in their communities. The awards honor the unsung heroes working every day to improve the lives of their neighbors, including block captains; unofficial coordinators of community clean-ups, concerts, festivals, and cook-outs; artists bringing beauty to gateways; and tireless advocates for the resources their communities need to thrive.
Each Neighborhood Spotlight Award winner will direct a $5,000 grant from BCF to any Baltimore-area nonprofit organization of their choice and will be recognized at the annual State of BCF event on Oct. 14, 2026.
"The Baltimore Community Foundation knows that resident leadership is the heart and soul of stronger neighborhoods," said Dr. Crystal Harden-Lindsey, BCF's vice president of community impact. "With the Neighborhood Spotlight Awards, we celebrate the unsung heroes who are creating a better Baltimore, starting in their own community. Since the program began, we have honored 50 remarkable leaders, and I know there are many more across Baltimore whose commitment to their neighborhoods deserves to be recognized too!"
The following leaders were selected as 2026 Neighborhood Spotlight Award winners:
- Bif Browning, Union Square: Bif Browning has served as a Union Square Association Board member for 16 years, bringing neighbors together through signature events, greening initiatives, public-safety efforts, and vacant-lot transformation. He also serves as Development Director on the Friends of Union Square Board and leads The MUSE Baltimore's work to create a STEAM Hub and expand a community playground for children and youth in West and Southwest Baltimore.
- Stephanie Bradshaw, Belair-Edison: Stephanie Bradshaw, founder and CEO of LOGO Inc., creates opportunities for young people in Belair-Edison through the BE Leaders Youth Leadership and Mentoring Program. She has built a safe, structured program where youth ages 13–19 develop leadership and self-worth through mentorship, workforce development, community engagement, stipends, and youth-led neighborhood beautification.
- Linda Lynn Batts, Hanlon Park: Linda Lynn Batts is a champion for change in Hanlon, where she helped secure historic designation for Hanlon Park, is developing a tour of historic homes, and successfully advocated for safer, more equitable conditions at Hilton Elementary School. As a founder of Friends of Hanlon Park, she helped to establish Friends of Gwynns Falls Parkway, which united 12 West Baltimore communities to address greenspace challenges.
- Christina Delgado, Belair-Edison: Christina Delgado is a Nuyorican artist, educator, curator, and culture worker serving Northeast Baltimore as founder and creative director of Tola's Room. She transformed a family-rooted project into a Puerto Rican home museum, community cultural hub, and living archive of Puerto Rican history and Baltimore's Boricua experience. She creates opportunities for learning, storytelling, cultural connection, affirmation, and belonging.
- Ciera Dunlap, Bolton Hill and Midtown: Ciera Dunlap is Program Director at Youth Empowered Society, a Midtown drop-in center serving young people ages 14–25 who are experiencing or at risk of homelessness. As YES's operational core, she has sustained a safe, trauma-informed environment through leadership transitions and funding uncertainty. She designs services around individual needs, connecting young people to daily programming and consistent support without prerequisites or conditional welcomes.
- Ida Mae Fliggins, Allendale: For more than 30 years, Ida Mae Fliggins, known as "Mrs. Mae," has served children and families in Allendale. As Vice President of the Allendale Community Association and founder of Children of Promise Inc., she has provided childcare, supplies, coats, mentorship, community events, and holiday celebrations. She also grew a backyard back-to-school gathering into an annual tradition that has served more than 8,000 youth and families.
- David Ginsburg, Pikesville: David Ginsburg has spearheaded the transformation of the historic Pikesville Armory into a 17-acre, cross-generational community hub. A veteran, resident, and community leader, he moved the project from vision to reality by convening residents, partners, and stakeholders. His leadership of the Pikesville Armory Foundation honors the Armory's legacy while bringing veterans' activities, art, recreation, and new opportunities for gathering and connection to Pikesville and Northwest Baltimore.
- Terri Miller-Vaughn, Collington Square: Terri Miller-Vaughn is a resident leader in Collington Square who transforms neglected spaces into places of beauty, safety, and community pride. She organized neighbors, cleared vacant lots, and secured city stewardship to create the Preston 2K Block Association Community Garden. She also led the Preston Glows Project, improving street lighting and creating a safer, more welcoming gathering place.
- Evan Serpick, Reservoir Hill: Evan Serpick is a volunteer leader of Beth Am Synagogue's Social Justice Committee, Tzedek Beth Am, strengthening connections among the congregation, neighbors, and local organizations in Reservoir Hill. During COVID-19 food shortages, he recruited volunteers and helped establish the synagogue as a city food-distribution site. He later founded Beth Am's weekly Byron McKenney Powell Free Community Market and continues to build trust among synagogue members and neighborhood residents.
- Dorian Walker, Sandtown-Winchester: Dorian Walker is Executive Director of the Family Survivor Network, a trusted community anchor serving Sandtown-Winchester and West Baltimore. He has helped transform the response to gun violence, grief, and systemic inequity by expanding trauma-informed care, counseling, case management, peer support, and alternative healing. At FSN's "one-stop sanctuary," he connects mental health support with youth programming, retreats, workforce development, and pathways to economic stability.
Launched in 2022, the 50th Anniversary Neighborhood Grants Fund builds on BCF's more than 50 years of neighborhood-based grantmaking and supports the Neighborhood Spotlight Awards. Through investments in resident-led projects like cleaning and greening, block captain programs, festivals, and youth initiatives, BCF supports the local leadership and ideas that help create vibrant, livable communities.
Recognizing the enduring impact of structural racism and disinvestment, BCF created the fund to further address these challenges and build stronger neighborhoods. To donate to the 50th Anniversary Neighborhood Grants Fund at BCF, visit https://godonate.akoyago.com/bcf/fund/50neig
For more information about the Neighborhood Spotlight Awards and the Baltimore Community Foundation, please visit https://bcf.org/spotlight/
About BCF
For over 50 years, the Baltimore Community Foundation (BCF) has connected people who are passionate about their community and purposeful in their philanthropy. BCF amplifies donors' philanthropy with strategic grants, impact investments, special initiatives, and advocacy to strengthen schools and neighborhoods. Visit www.bcf.org to discover meaningful giving, invest your funds wisely, and join a diverse community working to build a better Baltimore.
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SOURCE Baltimore Community Foundation
