Elijah Cummings Youth Program

What Elijah Cummings Youth Program does

The Elijah Cummings Youth Program (ECYP) is a Baltimore-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 1998 by Congressman Elijah E. Cummings in partnership with the Baltimore Jewish Council. It runs a two-year leadership fellowship for high school sophomores from Maryland's 7th Congressional District, combining after-school and summer leadership workshops, an international travel experience (historically Israel via a partnership with Yemin Orde Youth Village, pivoted to Eastern Europe for summer 2025 due to safety concerns), and post-travel community service in which fellows mentor middle school students and speak publicly about diversity. The program is fully funded for participants and operates with a small staff (9 employees) under Executive Director Kathleen St. Villier Hill and a board chaired by Congressman Kweisi Mfume as Honorary Chair.

The program supports a relatively modest annual cohort and has produced over 300 alumni across more than 20 years, with graduates attending institutions including Morgan State University, Syracuse University, and Johns Hopkins and entering fields such as journalism, healthcare, entertainment, and public service. Ancillary offerings include the 'Justice is Not Just Us' podcast co-produced with WYPR and the Baltimore Jewish Council, the Social Justice Teen Fellowship, and a new Civil Rights Mission to the American South launching in 2025. There is no proprietary technology platform; delivery is workshop-based, in-person, and partnership-driven.

ECYP's business model is donation-funded rather than revenue-generating. Income streams include one-time and recurring individual donations via Network for Good (including the Rising Voices Society monthly giving program), institutional support from the Baltimore Jewish Council and The Associated: Jewish Community Federation, and nominal donation tiers ($25-$1,000) tied to specific program costs such as international flights, workshops, and meals. Pricing is not applicable for participants, as the fellowship is offered at no cost, removing financial barriers to access and shifting the economic relationship entirely to the donor side of the model.

Name

Elijah Cummings Youth Program

Legal name

Elijah Cummings Youth Program in Israel Inc

Website

https://ecyp.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1998

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The Elijah Cummings Youth Program (ECYP) is a Baltimore-based nonprofit founded in 1998 that runs a free two-year leadership fellowship for high school students from Maryland's 7th Congressional District, combining leadership workshops, international travel, and community service to bridge African-American and Jewish communities. It serves an annual cohort of teens with 9 staff and over 300 alumni.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Youth Leadership Development

NAICS

Educational Support Services (611710)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

K–12 Support & School Improvement Nonprofits (BPAGADAB)

akta.pro secondary industries

College Access, Scholarships & Student Success Nonprofits (BPAGADAE), After-School, Tutoring & Academic Enrichment Nonprofits (BPAGADAC)

Keywords

• Youth leadership fellowship
• Cross-cultural education
• Community bridge-building
• Nonprofit youth programs
• Student leadership development

Headquarters

HQ city

Baltimore

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Individual Donations: The program accepts one-time and recurring donations from individuals through its Network for Good portal. The Rising Voices Society offers monthly giving options at various levels ($10, $75, or custom amounts).
2. Institutional Support: ECYP receives support from the Baltimore Jewish Council and other institutional partners. The Associated: Jewish Community Federation provides organizational backing.
3. Donation Tiers: The program offers specific donation tiers: $1,000 covers one Fellow's international flight; $500 sponsors a team-building session; $100 covers transportation costs; $50 provides meals for workshops; $25 covers workshop supplies.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

ECYP runs a fully-funded, two-year leadership fellowship for high school sophomores from Maryland's 7th congressional district, combining after-school and summer leadership workshops, an international travel experience (Israel or, for 2025, Eastern Europe) at Yemin Orde Youth Village, and post-travel community service and mentoring. All programming is delivered at no cost to participants and is funded through charitable donations and institutional support from the Baltimore Jewish Council and The Associated.

Product overview

The Elijah Cummings Youth Program (ECYP) operates as a single integrated fellowship program rather than a platform-plus-modules architecture. The core offering is a two-year leadership fellowship for high school students combining three sequential components: Leadership Development workshops, an International Experience (Israel or Eastern Europe), and Community Service. Related offerings include the ECYP Podcast series 'Justice is Not Just Us' produced in partnership with the Baltimore Jewish Council, the Rising Voices Society monthly giving program, and the Social Justice Teen Fellowship initiative. ECYP has over 300 accomplished alumni.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Rising Voices Society: A monthly giving society named in recognition of the transformative power of ECYP youth committed to the program. It continues Congressman Cummings' legacy by investing in Baltimore's emerging leaders.

Products and services

• ECYP Fellowship Program Fully-funded, two-year elite leadership fellowship for high school sophomores from Maryland's 7th congressional district, combining leadership development workshops, international travel experience, and post-travel community service. All activities are provided at no cost to participants.
• Rising Voices Society Monthly recurring giving program for individual supporters of ECYP, with tiered contribution levels ($10, $75, or custom amounts) funding the next generation of Baltimore leaders.
• Social Justice Teen Fellowship Year-long partnership initiative with the Baltimore Jewish Council that prepares teens as community ambassadors on diversity and inclusion, including a Civil Rights Mission to the American South starting in 2025.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 300 accomplished alumni
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core and supporting.

• Yemin Orde Youth VillagecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 1998ECYP partners with Yemin Orde Youth Village in Haifa, Israel since 1998. ECYP Fellows reside at the youth village overlooking the Mediterranean Sea during their summer Israel experience. Fellows are paired with Israeli teens with ancestry from over 24 countries including Brazil, Ethiopia, Germany, and Russia.
• Baltimore Jewish Council (BJC)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Baltimore Jewish Council co-created ECYP with Congressman Elijah Cummings and continues as a primary organizational partner. BJC and ECYP collaborate on the Social Justice Teen Fellowship program and joint podcast 'Justice is Not Just Us'. Howard Libit serves as BJC Executive Director.
• Stoop StorytellingsupportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerECYP Fellows work with Stoop Storytelling to develop public speaking and storytelling skills. Through this partnership, students learn to tell powerful stories about their ECYP experiences and use these skills to speak in communities about empathy and diversity.
• Habitat for HumanitysupportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerCommunity service partner where ECYP Fellows participate in Habitat for Humanity projects as part of their service learning requirements.
• Art with a HeartsupportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerCommunity service partner where ECYP Fellows engage in art-based community service projects. Randi Alper Pupkin, Executive Director of Art with a Heart, serves as Immediate Past Chair of ECYP's Board.
• WYPR (Baltimore's Public Radio)supportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerAaron Henkin from WYPR collaborated with ECYP and BJC on the 'Justice is Not Just Us' podcast. Aaron Henkin also serves on ECYP's Board of Directors.
• The Associated: Jewish Community FederationsupportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Associated provides organizational support to ECYP. Carole Sibel represents The Associated on ECYP's Board of Directors.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• City Year: City Year is a national AmeriCorps youth service corps combining leadership development with community impact. Mission architecture (leadership + service + diverse cohorts) is comparable but operates at vastly larger scale for post-college young adults.
• KIPP Foundation: KIPP is a national K-12 charter school network serving predominantly low-income students. It shares ECYP's K-12 student-development orientation and educational-nonprofit mission, though delivered as schools rather than a fellowship.
• Birthright Israel Foundation: Birthright is the dominant funder of Israel travel experiences for Jewish young adults. ECYP shares the Israel cross-cultural-immersion component but operates at much smaller scale and is fellowship-based rather than mass travel.

Direct peers

• BBYO: BBYO is the leading pluralistic Jewish teen movement offering leadership development including international conventions and travel. It overlaps directly on Jewish teen leadership, structured cohort programming, and global cultural exposure.
• Jack and Jill of America: Jack and Jill is a national African American youth development organization serving children and young adults of members from ages 6-25. It shares ECYP's focus on the African American leadership pipeline and structured cohort programming for youth.
• Repair the World: Repair the World mobilizes Jewish young adults around structured service learning. It overlaps directly with ECYP's Jewish-community-led service-learning mission and cohort-based engagement with social justice.
• Diller Teen Fellows (American Jewish Committee): AJC's Diller Teen Fellows is a global Jewish teen leadership fellowship combining local cohort programming with an Israel immersion experience. It is the closest direct peer to ECYP on Jewish leadership fellowship plus Israel travel architecture.
• Facing History and Ourselves: Facing History provides K-12 educational programming that explicitly bridges Jewish, African American, and civil rights narratives. Its K-12 educational nonprofit structure and bridge-building pedagogy closely mirror ECYP's mission.
• AVODAH: The Jewish Service Corps: AVODAH runs a service-and-leadership fellowship for young Jewish adults combining community service with cohort-based leadership development. The fellowship model, cohort cadence, and Jewish-service orientation are highly comparable to ECYP.
• Posse Foundation: Posse identifies diverse high school leaders and places them in leadership scholarships at partner colleges. Its mission of leadership development for diverse high schoolers and selective cohort model are structurally comparable to ECYP's fellowship.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/ecypisrael
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCKnBvamrLVLoEdfjsXwM9WQ/featured
• Facebookfacebook.com/ECYPIsrael
• Instagraminstagram.com/elijahcummingsyouthprogram/?hl=en
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/elijah-cummings-youth-program

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Elijah Cummings Youth Program