Our Board
Maura Callahan
Board Member
Maura is an art writer and contemporary art historian in training. Working as a journalist between 2013 and 2018, Maura served as an arts section editor for City Paper and as deputy editor of The Beat, two alternative weekly newspapers in Baltimore. She has also written art criticism for national and international print and digital publications and was awarded the 2018 Toni Beauchamp Prize in Critical Art Writing. Before coming to Maryland, Maura also worked in dramatic television development and production. The Beat intends to take our arts and culture coverage seriously and want to keep close to our alt-weekly roots, and Maura is symbolic of this.
Tracey Beale
Board Member
Tracey is the Manager of Public Programs at the Baltimore Museum of Art where she worked for over three years. She is also an artist, musician, and jewelry designer. She cares deeply about the Baltimore community and brings her management and marketing skills to the board of directors of Baltimore Beat. She has experience with marketing for nonprofit newsrooms.
Dharna Noor
Board Member
Dharna Noor is a climate reporter and producer at the Boston Globe. Before joining the Boston Globe’s climate team, Dharna worked as a staff writer at Earther, Gizmodo’s climate vertical, where she also co-produced a season of the podcast Drilled on the fossil fuel industry’s influence on education. Before that, she led the climate team at the Real News Network. Her writing has also appeared in publications including In These Times, Jacobin Magazine, and Truthout, and was also featured in a 2021 book from The New Press called The World We Need. She has been interviewed on programs such as PBS NewsHour, the Times Radio, Vox’s Tell Me More, the Insurgents, and NPR’s Living on Earth. Dharna is passionate about creating sustainable funding for local newsrooms and has experience with grant writing for multiple organizations and volunteer projects. She lives in Baltimore.
Board of Advisors
Candice Fortman
Advisory Board Member
Candice Fortman – Outlier Media
Candice Fortman is a community-driven leader and the former executive director of Outlier Media, a non-profit newsroom dedicated to addressing the information needs of Detroit residents. In her role, Candice worked to build a newsroom that not only informs but also actively empowers the community, pushing the boundaries of traditional journalism to create a more responsive, sustainable model.
Before joining Outlier, Fortman was the marketing and engagement manager at WDET 101.9, Detroit’s NPR station, where she strengthened the station’s connection to its audience.
Her commitment to community extends beyond Detroit. Fortman serves on the board of Cityside, overseeing Berkeleyside, The Oaklandside, and Richmondside in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is an advisory board member for OpenNews, which brings together journalists and technologists to foster collaboration. Fortman was a 2021 JSK Community Impact Fellow.
Candice Fortman is a community-driven leader and the former executive director of Outlier Media, a non-profit newsroom dedicated to addressing the information needs of Detroit residents. In her role, Candice worked to build a newsroom that not only informs but also actively empowers the community, pushing the boundaries of traditional journalism to create a more responsive, sustainable model.
Before joining Outlier, Fortman was the marketing and engagement manager at WDET 101.9, Detroit’s NPR station, where she strengthened the station’s connection to its audience.
Her commitment to community extends beyond Detroit. Fortman serves on the board of Cityside, overseeing Berkeleyside, The Oaklandside, and Richmondside in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is an advisory board member for OpenNews, which brings together journalists and technologists to foster collaboration. Fortman was a 2021 JSK Community Impact Fellow.
John Brothers
Advisory Board Member
John Brothers most recently served as the President of the T. Rowe Price Foundation and President of T. Rowe Price Charitable, with $750M in combined assets. Dr. Brothers came to T. Rowe Price from Quidoo, an international consulting firm he started and led for over a decade, merging the firm in 2015.
During Dr. Brothers’ tenure at T. Rowe Price, he was responsible for leading a long list of innovative and influential efforts including the creation of the Elevation Awards, DesignFest, Civic Innovators, Moonshot, One Book and Artist Navigators, among many others. Dr. Brothers has served in lead roles toward the creation of nationally recognized efforts like the Baltimore Children and Youth Fund and the Baltimore Squeegee Collaborative. Under his leadership, T. Rowe Price has become widely recognized as a global leader in several areas including trust-based philanthropy, partnerships, impact and evaluation, and building authentic relationships in local communities. He has deep experience in the areas of youth development, human and social services, the arts and service delivery into low-income communities.
Dr. Brothers served as a management and social policy professor at NYU and Rutgers and as a Visiting Fellow at the Hauser Center at Harvard. He’s currently an Honorary Professor of Practice at Queens University in Belfast and assisted in the development of the China Global Philanthropy Institute in Beijing. Dr. Brothers has done work in nearly 50 countries and in all fifty states.
Dr. Brothers has been a writer with the SSIR, Nonprofit Quarterly and the Huffington Post and is an author of several books, including a book to be released in 2025. He has been interviewed, referenced or quoted in 100’s of local, national and international media outlets including the New York Times, Washington Post, Newsweek, ABC News and the Wall Street Journal. Dr. Brothers has spoken to tens of thousands on nonprofit and philanthropic effectiveness.
Dr. Brothers began his work serving in the local community, inspired by growing up in deep poverty, serving as a community organizer and case manager in neighborhoods in the Midwest to leadership positions, including CEO, with local and national organizations on the East Coast. Dr. Brothers is proud his work leaves a legacy of innovative efforts that still serves a wide network of children and families, including homeless families receiving services in the DC-area, to programs for low-income children in Brooklyn to transitional housing options for immigrant families in Boston who suffer from domestic violence.
During Dr. Brothers’ tenure at T. Rowe Price, he was responsible for leading a long list of innovative and influential efforts including the creation of the Elevation Awards, DesignFest, Civic Innovators, Moonshot, One Book and Artist Navigators, among many others. Dr. Brothers has served in lead roles toward the creation of nationally recognized efforts like the Baltimore Children and Youth Fund and the Baltimore Squeegee Collaborative. Under his leadership, T. Rowe Price has become widely recognized as a global leader in several areas including trust-based philanthropy, partnerships, impact and evaluation, and building authentic relationships in local communities. He has deep experience in the areas of youth development, human and social services, the arts and service delivery into low-income communities.
Dr. Brothers served as a management and social policy professor at NYU and Rutgers and as a Visiting Fellow at the Hauser Center at Harvard. He’s currently an Honorary Professor of Practice at Queens University in Belfast and assisted in the development of the China Global Philanthropy Institute in Beijing. Dr. Brothers has done work in nearly 50 countries and in all fifty states.
Dr. Brothers has been a writer with the SSIR, Nonprofit Quarterly and the Huffington Post and is an author of several books, including a book to be released in 2025. He has been interviewed, referenced or quoted in 100’s of local, national and international media outlets including the New York Times, Washington Post, Newsweek, ABC News and the Wall Street Journal. Dr. Brothers has spoken to tens of thousands on nonprofit and philanthropic effectiveness.
Dr. Brothers began his work serving in the local community, inspired by growing up in deep poverty, serving as a community organizer and case manager in neighborhoods in the Midwest to leadership positions, including CEO, with local and national organizations on the East Coast. Dr. Brothers is proud his work leaves a legacy of innovative efforts that still serves a wide network of children and families, including homeless families receiving services in the DC-area, to programs for low-income children in Brooklyn to transitional housing options for immigrant families in Boston who suffer from domestic violence.
Ziggy Jeffery
Advisory Board Member
Ziggy is the Executive Director of a social justice-oriented, nonprofit news organization called Truthout, where he manages a team of 30 staff and freelancers. He is the board chair at the Baltimore-based nonprofit, The Real News Network.
Ziggy has managed many dozens of complex projects with stakeholders at all levels across a variety of departments for multiple nonprofit newsrooms. Those projects have involved working with journalists, audio and video content creators, web developers, fundraisers, marketing partners, graphic designers, video producers, and others to accurately, professionally, and effectively represent an organization’s mission.
Ziggy is a strategic thinker and can help develop strategies or work on implementing strategies to bring a newsroom to success.
Ziggy has managed many dozens of complex projects with stakeholders at all levels across a variety of departments for multiple nonprofit newsrooms. Those projects have involved working with journalists, audio and video content creators, web developers, fundraisers, marketing partners, graphic designers, video producers, and others to accurately, professionally, and effectively represent an organization’s mission.
Ziggy is a strategic thinker and can help develop strategies or work on implementing strategies to bring a newsroom to success.