STAFF & LEADERSHIP

Elbridge James, Director
elbridge@marylandbfa.org

Elbridge James is Executive (first) Vice President of the Montgomery County Branch of the NAACP, as well as the 2nd Vice President and Chair of the Political Action Committee for the Maryland State NAACP Conference of Branches. He is the President of the Progressive Maryland Advisory Board, and is an active participant in the coalition effort to expand living wage legislation throughout the state. Elbridge has a proven track record of passing civil rights and pro-worker reforms in Annapolis. He was instrumental in banning racial profiling and expanding voting rights, among other issues. Mr. James recently retired from the University of Maryland College Park, where he was a human resources generalist. Mr. James is the Chairperson of the Faculty-Staff Advisory Board of the Nyumburu Cultural Center, a member of the Human Relations Committee of the College Park Senate, and an active member of the Black Faculty and Staff Association. Mr. James lives with his wife Debra in Rockville; they have three grown children. Click here for more information on Elbridge James.

Lea Gilmore, Outreach Director
lea@marylandbfa.org

Lea Gilmore, named by ESSENCE Magazine in 2005 as one of “25 Women Shaping the World,” has made remarkable accomplishments as a social activist and performing artist. Professionally, Lea has directed an initiative for Native American and other women of color to receive equal access to reproductive health care. Lea has worked as the Program Director of the Association of Baltimore Area Grantmakers, directing the African American Philanthropy Initiative, as well as media trainings for non-profits. A former deputy director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland, Lea Gilmore has testified before local, state and federal commissions on issues ranging from immigration laws to the civil rights and liberties for all. Appointed by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, she currently serves as a member of the Maryland Advisory Board to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. Lea also serves on the Board of Trustees for the Public Justice Center, The Creative Alliance and the ACLU of Maryland.

As an artist, Lea has traveled the world and touched the hearts of many. Over the past seven years, she has championed the cause of eradicating leprosy and tuberculosis in third world countries in Africa, Asian and South America by headlining sold-out gospel concerts in Europe, sponsored by the Damien Foundation, a Belgium-based nonprofit. Gilmore has also traveled to the Democratic Republic of the Congo to meet with Congolese school children in Kinshasa, give a gospel concert, visited the Damien Foundation’s hospitals; and filmed a documentary of the event. Merging her passions of social activism and music, Lea continues to lead standing room only concerts and lectures in France, The Netherlands, The United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, and beyond.

Lea is a graduate of Morgan State University (recently featured in their publication as an outstanding alumnus) with a degree in Political Science and is a member of the Pi Gamma Mu International Honor Society for the Social Sciences. She has authored several articles on international human rights, race relations, and lectured on these topics around the world.