Erickson Blakney

Erickson Blakney presented himself to the Pinkerton Foundation with an impressive background as an award-winning writer, reporter and interviewer for Bloomberg and CBS News. Now those career skills are all important for a successful program officer, but it was his extracurricular activities that set EB–as everyone calls him–apart. After graduating from Hobart College, he did an early career stint at the Daytop Village substance abuse treatment program and later earned a certificate in nonprofit management from CUNY’s Hostos College. While working in journalism, he joined the board of the DreamYard Project, a longtime Pinkerton grantee in the Bronx. That was 16 years ago, and he remains a thoughtful, engaged and effective board member. EB’s philanthropic interests range far and wide. He’s on the board of the Clarksdale Animal Rescue Effort and Shelter in Clarksdale, MS, and The Center for Rural Strategies in Whitesburg, KY. In northern Ohio, where he grew up, he is a trustee of The Needmor Fund, a philanthropic organization that supports grassroots community groups organizing to bring about social and economic justice. In his spare, spare time, EB has also produced documentary films on the Mississippi Delta’s blues tradition and fair housing policies.