As a lifelong resident of Trenton, N.J., an impoverished urban enclave in one of the state’s wealthiest counties, Elijah’s personal and professional trajectory has been oriented around the development and implementation of economic empowerment strategies for Black and Brown communities.
As senior program officer for Economic Development at Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), a national community development financial institution, Elijah has had the privilege of directing the organization’s portfolio of N.J.-based economic inclusion initiatives. In this capacity, he collaborates with civic, public, and private partners across the Garden State to engineer the conditions necessary for historically marginalized communities to build and maintain economic systems conducive to agency, equity, and self-determination.
Outside of his employment at LISC, in 2015 he founded and continues to operate the Orchid House (OH), a cultural staple in the City of Trenton that functions as equal parts cafe, grassroots community organizing hub, and cultural venue for artistic expression and ideological exchange. As an outgrowth of the organizing at the OH, in 2017 he co-founded a Trenton-based community investment fund that continues to serve as a conduit for low-income Black and Brown residents to build and sustain equity while safeguarding the socioeconomic and cultural fabric of our city’s most vulnerable neighborhoods.
FUTURE FOCUS
In addition to the aforementioned social enterprises, he actively spearheads a coalition of African American entrepreneurs, developers, and faith-based leaders who, together, are leveraging their social, political, and economic capital to facilitate the complete transformation of the neighborhood’s built, economic, and cultural environment.
