Board of Directors | Staff | Founder
Advisory Board | Founding Families | Former Board Members
is a part-time nurse at Johns Hopkins Hospital and a full-time "mom"to her infant son Charlie and their Catahoula leopard dog Blue. Sara and her husband came to Baltimore in 2005 so Sara could attend the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing. They soon fell in love with the city and in 2006 bought a home in Patterson Park. Prior to entering the nursing field, Sara graduated from the University of Maryland, College Park with a degree in government and politics. She worked for three years in resource development at the Alaska Wilderness League in Washington, DC. Currently, Sara and her husband are active in the Patterson Park Neighborhood Association and volunteer their time at various local charities. Sara served as the chair of the resource development committee of the Downtown Baltimore Family Alliance from 2007-2009.
has worked for financial institutions for 19 years and is currently an IT manager at Legg Mason, which is headquartered in downtown Baltimore. Joe grew up in New York, where he received a BA in math from the University of Buffalo and an MBA from Pace University. He has been a resident of Otterbein since 1999 and now lives with his wife Megan and their two young daughters, Natalie and Lillian. Joe was formerly a committee member for and continues to volunteer at the Baltimore chapter of the American Heart Association. Joe served as the chair of the finance committee on the board of directors of the Downtown Baltimore Family Alliance.
spent 10 years selling residential real estate for Coldwell Banker, primarily in Baltimore's downtown neighborhoods. Currently, she is at home with her two young children: Charlie, who attends Arts and Ideas Elementary, and Zoe, who attends nursery school in Federal Hill. Emily is a graduate of Bowdoin College and a native of Baltimore. She and her husband have lived downtown since 1996 and now reside in Little Italy, where she is active in the community and president of the Little Italy Parents Group. Emily served as the vice president of the Downtown Baltimore Family Alliance from 2007-2009 before serving as a member of its board of directors.
has worked on issues of sustainable business, local living communities, renewable fuels, smart growth development, and the environment for more than 10 years in business, government, and the nonprofit sector. As the founder of three small businesses in the waste management, software development, and wireless services industries and the executive director of the Chesapeake Sustainable Business Alliance, an environmental nonprofit, Keith has committed himself to advancing the economic and environmental health in Baltimore's collection of diverse communities. Keith holds a BS from Texas Tech University and serves on the boards of the Preservation Society, Christ Church Inner Harbor Foundation, and Chesapeake Sustainability Foundation. Keith is also a member of the Commission on Sustainability for the City of Baltimore. He lives in Federal Hill and served on the board of directors of the Downtown Baltimore Family Alliance.
is a Baltimore native born into a tradition of public service. A former three-term Baltimore City Council member, Keiffer has worked to improve the quality of Baltimore’s schools and the safety of its streets. After graduating from Emory with a degree in political science, Keiffer went on to the District of Columbia School of Law, receiving his law degree in 1994. Outside of the classroom, he served as a White House intern during the Clinton administration and as a law clerk for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. He later worked with the Maryland Public Defender’s Office and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. In 1995, Keiffer returned to his alma mater, Boys’ Latin School, to teach United States, African-American, and Maryland history. That same year, he was elected to his first term on the Baltimore City Council. In 2000, Keiffer served as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles and was appointed chairman of Baltimore’s Human Services Commission. Two years later, he was re-elected to the city council, named to the Democratic State Central Committee and appointed second vice-chair of the Maryland Democratic Party. In 2002, Keiffer left Boys’ Latin to complete his own financial education with the A.G. Edwards brokerage firm, then with Harbor Bank. He is currently an officer of Small Business Banking at Wachovia Bank, specializing in nonprofit clients. Among his community activities are service on the boards of the Echo Hill Outdoor School, the Family Tree, Habitat for Humanity, and Boys’ Latin School. A lifelong parishioner at Sharp Street United Methodist Church, he lives in Bolton Hill with wife Nicole and their two young children, Jack and Kenna, where he is a member of the board of the neighborhood association.
is a vice president with M&T Bank’s Investment Group, where she is a wealth manager specializing in sophisticated private client advisory services to business owners, professional executives, and high net worth families. Kirsten has worked in financial services for 11 years in downtown Baltimore, beginning as a financial advisor with Merrill Lynch and later as a principal with Wachovia Wealth Management before joining M&T in 2004. Kirsten earned a BA from Pepperdine University and attended graduate school at George Washington University. She moved to Federal Hill in 1997 after working on Capital Hill and met her husband Bob while on the Citizens on Patrol walk for their neighborhood association. They have a daughter, Kiera, who attends day care in Locust Point. Kirsten served as president for two years and as a board member for six years of the Federal Hill South Neighborhood Association. She is currently a member of the board of trustees for Baltimore City Community College, where she also chairs the college's finance committee and is a member of the real estate committee. Kirsten is also an appointed member of the Mayor's Blue Ribbon Commission on Property Tax Reform in Baltimore City, and she is a mentor for students at Digital Harbor High School in Federal Hill. Kirsten served on the board of directors of the Downtown Baltimore Family Alliance from 2007-2009.
received her Ph.D. in political science from Duke University and graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Maryland, College Park where she was a Banneker/Key Scholar. Shanaysha was raised in St. Mary's County and is a product of Maryland public schools. She previously taught English literature in public and private high schools in Baltimore County and politics at the college level at UMBC and Hood College. Currently, Shanaysha is an assistant professor at a university in Washington, D.C. She and her spouse Edward, a Baltimore native, have resided in Patterson Park since 2002 and have three children: Maya, Sydney, and Edward. They are proud parents at Hampstead Hill Academy of the Baltimore City Public School System. She and her family have found a wonderful and rich community of neighbors, friends, and urbanites in southeast Baltimore. Shanaysha formerly served as the founding treasurer and chair of the finance committee of the Patterson Park Public Charter School. She is a member of the American Political Science Association and the National Conference of Black Political Scientists. Shanaysha served as a member of the board of directors of the Downtown Baltimore Family Alliance from 2008-2010.
is a consultant with Computer Sciences Corporation and works in their Federal Consulting Practice, specializing in operations and strategic planning. He works with large federal agencies transforming their business strategies to take advantage of new information technology infrastructure. Prior to joining CSC, Kyle worked for 10 years with Prometric, Inc as an operations manager overseeing the quality and performance of a network of 3000 computer-based testing centers. Kyle has served two terms on the Board of Examiners for the Maryland Performance Excellence Awards, an organization promoting the Baldrige quality principles for Maryland businesses. Kyle grew up in a small town in East Texas and holds a BA in political science from Texas A&M University. After moving to Baltimore in 1999, he obtained an MBA from the University of Maryland. To take advantage of downtown living, Kyle joined several social sports and recreation leagues before meeting his wife Melissa during the inaugural season of the Kickball League of Baltimore.
is a doctoral candidate in philosophy at Georgetown University. Her dissertation focuses on issues of responsibility in law and ethics. Amy holds a law degree from Yale and a bachelor’s and master’s degree from McGill University. A native of Montreal, Amy has lived in the Mount Vernon neighborhood of Baltimore since 2005 with her husband Andy. They are the happy parents of Nathan, who attends Downtown Baltimore Child Care. Amy served as the board development chair on the board of directors of the Downtown Baltimore Family Alliance for 2007-2009.
is pursuing her PhD in English Language and Literature from the University of Michigan and was transplanted to Baltimore’s Upper Fells Point for her husband’s residency at Johns Hopkins. Appropriately, her dissertation work focuses on women’s experience of urban space. Her other life’s work are daughters Lilian and Adeline, who, respectively, attend the public charter school Wolfe Street Academy and the Baltimore Montessori preschool. Rebecca holds an undergraduate degree in English from Brown University and a master’s degree in English from the University of Michigan. Previously, she worked in publishing for the University of Texas and the University of Michigan Press. Outside of her dissertation work, she is the facilitator of the SEBaltCityKids parent network. Past commitments include serving as the beautification chair of the Fells Prospect neighborhood association, the founder and chair of the Greater Fell’s Point Sanitation Coalition, a founding member of the Friends of Patterson Park Pool Committee, and a founder and board development chair for the Patterson Park Public Charter School. Rebecca is the founder of the Downtown Baltimore Family Alliance.
and her husband Thomas are the owners of aMuse Toys, a well-known specialty toy store with locations in Fells Point and Quarry Lake. They live in Fell’s Point with their son Sebastian, who attends Hampstead Hill Academy, a public charter school. Claudia is a native of Colombia, S.A., where she attended law school before returning to the United States in 2001. She is proficient in both English and Spanish, as is her son. Claudia is currently board president of the Fell’s Point Development Corporation, a Main Streets nonprofit organization supporting the revitalization of the Fell’s Point Business District. Claudia was also a founder of the Patterson Park Public Charter School, acting as the family relations liaison during its start-up phase and serving on the board of directors as chair of the advocacy committee. Her dedication to community involvement reaches over two dozen organizations through volunteer activities and financial contributions. She and her family are committed to enhancing the lives of families in the city of Baltimore through their business and personal endeavors. Claudia served as the organization's vice president from 2010 until 2011.
is a human resources director with The Martin Pollak Project, Inc., a nonprofit child welfare organization headquartered in the Highlandtown neighborhood of Baltimore. MPP provides treatment foster care and independent living services to children and families throughout the Baltimore and Washington, DC region. In addition to providing HR oversight, Noah also directs Project Northstar, a mentoring and tutoring program in DC for at-risk and homeless youth. Noah was raised in Charleston, West Virginia, and after high school moved to South Carolina to play rhythm guitar with his band. He later earned his bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s in industrial relations from West Virginia University. In 2004, Noah and his wife Amanda relocated to the Baltimore area, where he initially worked for a government contractor as a labor relations and HR administrator. Noah and Amanda moved to Canton in 2005 and later moved to Baltimore County. Since moving to the county, they have realized that they miss city life and hope to move back downtown with the birth of their first child, Hudson. Noah served as the human resources committee chair on the board of directors of the Downtown Baltimore Family Alliance in 2010.