Organizing Black (OB), formerly Black Leaders Organizing for Change, is a member-led advocacy group that works alongside the Black Liberation movement. The group seeks to defund the police, invest in Black communities, and establish a new emergency service as an alternative to the police in Baltimore, Maryland. ¹

OB members have previously worked with the Alliance for Educational Justice (AEJ), a left-wing coalition of 30 youth-led education groups, advocating for the Obama administration’s policies opposing “zero tolerance” discipline practices in schools. ²

Founding and History

Organizing Black, then known as Black Leaders Organizing for Change, was founded in 2016 by Michaela Brown, Ralikh Hayes, and Tre Murphy. ³

Michaela Brown is the executive director of OB. She has previously worked for the Baltimore Algebra Project and the Baltimore Worker Center. ³

Ralikh Haye is the deputy director of OB. She also works at the Baltimore Algebra Project while aiding the Alliance for Educational Justice, Baltimore United for Change, and the Movement for Black Lives .³

Advocacy

Organizing Black aims to defund the Baltimore Police Department (BPD), dismantle the 911 emergency-dispatch system, and establish a new community assistance system. The organization also seeks to repeal the Maryland Law Enforcement Officers’ Bill of Rights to create a new conflict resolution framework. ⁴

In 2020, OB called for cuts to the BPD budget, arguing that the city had one of the highest police spending levels in the country. OB executive director Michaela Brown proposed cutting half the police budget and reallocating it to infrastructure, education, and social services. ⁵

Funding

The NAACP Legal Defense And Educational Fund, a public-interest law firm and civil rights organization, has received substantial donations from the philanthropic network of left-of-center billionaire George Soros, including $1 million in donations announced in 2013. ⁶ The NAACP Legal Defense And Educational Fund made a grant of $65,000 to Organizing Black in 2022. ⁷

B’more Invested, which is a project of the Open Society Foundations, is a group focused on helping and promoting small communities.⁸ In 2021, BI awarded OB a grant of $150,000. ⁹

1. “Organizing Black,” Organizing Black, accessed November 26, 2024, https://organizingblack.org/.
2. ^[1] “Ralikh Hayes,” Legal Defense Fund, November 18, 2020, https://www.naacpldf.org/about-us/staff/ralikh-hayes/.
3. “About,” Organizing Black, accessed October 11, 2024, https://organizingblack.org/about.
4. “Our Demands,” Organizing Black, accessed November 26, 2024, https://organizingblack.org/our-demands.
5. Baltimore Magazine, “As Council Weighs Budget, Protestors Paint ‘defund the Police’ Outside City Hall,” June 24, 2020, https://www.baltimoremagazine.com/section/community/as-council-weighs-budget-protestors-paint-defund-the-police-outside-city-hall/.
6. Nicholas Confessore, “Soros to Give $1 Million to NAACP Legal Fund,” The New York Times, March 26, 2013, https://archive.nytimes.com/thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/26/soros-to-give-1-million-to-naacp-legal-fund/.
7. Andrea Suozzo et al., “N A A C P Legal Defense and Educational Fund Inc, Form 990, Schedule I – Nonprofit Explorer,” ProPublica, May 9, 2013, https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/131655255/202401359349307415/IRS990ScheduleI
8. Bmoreinvested, “Privacy Policy,” October 23, 2023, https://www.bmoreinvested.org/privacy-policy/.
9. “B’more Invested – Open Society Institute,” Baltimore, September 27, 2022, https://www.osibaltimore.org/annual_report/2021-impact-report/bmore-invested/