The Robert W. Deutsch Foundation Welcomes George Hopkins as Director of Community Innovations

The Robert W. Deutsch Foundation welcomes George Hopkins as Director of Community Innovations. A native of Baltimore’s Cherry Hill neighborhood and a graduate of Morgan State University, Hopkins brings seventeen years of experience as a community leader, organizer, and pastor. He most recently served as co-chair of Baltimoreans United in Leadership Development (BUILD), an organization building community power to improve housing, increase job opportunities, and rebuild schools and neighborhoods.

In 2014, Hopkins founded a church in southwest Baltimore with the goal of building a multicultural congregation in an urban setting. Freddie Gray’s murder the following year moved him to advocate for more systemic reforms. This expanded focus led him to volunteer with BUILD in 2016. Upon becoming co-chair in 2020, Hopkins partnered with city leaders, local churches, and Johns Hopkins University to ensure Spanish-speaking Baltimoreans could access Covid-19 testing and vaccines.

In 2021, BUILD began to work with Mayor Brandon Scott to tackle the city’s vacant building crisis. Hopkins and others cited BUILD and its partner construction and development organization ReBUILD Metro’s success in revitalizing the neighborhoods of Greenmount West, Oliver, and Johnston Square by addressing abandoned properties one block at a time. By the end of 2023, Mayor Scott, BUILD, and the Greater Baltimore Committee (GBC) announced a fifteen-year plan to invest $3 billion toward redeveloping at least 37,500 properties in Baltimore city through this “whole blocks” approach.

As Director of Community Innovations, Hopkins will continue his focus on housing and neighborhood renewal while also supporting the Foundation’s other priority areas as a senior staff member. He also serves as the Board Chair of ReBUILD Metro, as a board member of the Middendorf Foundation, and remains committed to BUILD after nearly a decade as a volunteer. 

“We are thrilled to welcome George to our team at this time of great opportunity in our city,” said Jane Brown, Deutsch Foundation President. 

Hopkins shared that witnessing people realize their power to determine their community’s future fuels his dedication to this work. “We can often accomplish so much more than what we initially imagine. The more you act, the more new possibilities come into focus,” he explained. “I appreciate that this Foundation is always thinking and moving forward to a brighter future for this city.”

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Source: The Robert W. Deutsch Foundation