Chrissie Powell is a community driven advocate for equity with a focus on skill-based training and workforce development. A Maryland native, Chrissie is a proud HBCU graduate of Morgan State University and has since committed herself to serving the people of Baltimore. Spending years as a leader at Goodwill Industries of the Chesapeake in Baltimore, she became a trusted voice in the city’s workforce development community. In 2019, Chrissie launched the Baltimore site for Byte Back, a Washington DC-based nonprofit that provides a pathway of inclusive tech training that leads to living-wage careers for marginalized community members. Chrissie has since blossomed into a formidable leader in Baltimore’s digital equity space, with features on local and national panels and broadcasts, including, Tom Hall’s Midday Show, Future City with Wes Moore, and the National Digital Inclusion Alliance’s (NDIA) Net Inclusion Conference.
As a rapid response to the digital inequities COVID-19 shed a light on, Chrissie co-founded the Baltimore Digital Equity Coalition (BDEC), which quickly grew to a collective of over 50 organizations providing solutions to close the digital divide in the City. Chrissie spearheaded the development and launch of Baltimore’s first Tech Support Hotline, that supports City residents with little to no digital skills. Currently, Chrissie serves on several boards, including, the Baltimore Digital Equity Coalition, the Board of Directors at WYPR, and serves on the Baltimore Workforce Development Board’s youth committee. She is an energetic leader who is passionate about building relationships and empowering members of her community.