The Sandtown-Winchester community leader joins Elev8 Baltimore as Director of ENOUGH@21217 and West Baltimore Engagement.
(BALTIMORE – September 28, 2026) – Tracey Malone is, quite frankly, a Godsend.
I was getting worn down. After Freddie Gray’s death in 2015, I convened approximately 30 meetings about Sandtown-Winchester’s future. Some of the same community members kept interrupting meetings, spreading things I knew were untrue, and disrupting progress instead of taking ownership. I know because I was there.
And then, here comes Ms. Malone.
Straight, no chaser: Tracey gives people more grace than I do. She has more patience. I admire her determination, her willingness to learn, and her deep desire to be the best leader she can be.
Through her work with the Sandtown-Winchester Community Collective, she has shown an uncanny ability to bring residents together for productive reasons. I have seen her listen, build relationships, and keep working alongside people even when the work gets difficult. She understands that the community must have a voice in its own future.
Diane Bell-McKoy sees the same quality in her.
“Tracey Malone is God’s gift to communities,” Bell-McKoy said. “She believes very much in community and people—the residents. She’s not a leader who is about herself. She’s a servant leader in the truest sense of the word. She is led by the community.”
That last sentence is important: She is led by the community.
Now Elev8 Baltimore has named Tracey its Director of ENOUGH@21217 and West Baltimore Engagement. In a message to partners, colleagues, and community members, CEO Alexandria Warrick Adams welcomed Tracey and praised her commitment to community empowerment, relationship-building, and resident-centered engagement.
Warrick Adams said Tracey will help lead and strengthen Elev8 Baltimore’s efforts to advance ENOUGH@21217 while deepening engagement across West Baltimore communities. She described the initiative as a chance to build on community strengths, align resources, and create lasting opportunities for young people and families—with residents actively shaping their neighborhoods’ future.
I met Tracey about four years ago and had the opportunity to encourage her development. But Tracey did the work. I have watched her grow as she helped the Collective bring neighbors, organizations, churches, and agencies together. I have seen the village around her organize for the future of the Lillian Jones Recreation Center, its outdoor pool, and the surrounding park.
She is wise far beyond her years. She is my ride or die in Sandtown—ten toes down, from the window to the wall, through the fire, through the tsunami. She is a force of nature.
Her appointment recognizes work already happening in Sandtown-Winchester. It also brings a responsibility to the residents whose trust makes that work possible. As ENOUGH@21217 moves forward, families should be able to see what its partnerships and resources mean for their children and their neighborhood.
Tracey knows those families. She listens to them. And, as Diane said, she is led by them.
That is why I believe in her. That is why I am proud of her. And that is why this next chapter matters to Sandtown and West Baltimore.
Tracey Malone’s appointment was featured in the inaugural BMORENews.com newspaper.
