Cory Elliott on Youth Development, Violence Prevention, Healing in Nature & Building The Black Neighborhood

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Season 1 | Episode 21

What if sustainability wasn’t about systems—but about freedom? About waking up and choosing rest, joy, or stillness—because you can?

In this healing-rich episode, Dominique Drakeford sits down with Cory Elliott, the heart and visionary behind The Black Neighborhood—a powerful grassroots ecosystem centering Black joy, safety, nourishment, and liberation. Together, they unravel a definition of sustainability most don’t dare to imagine: a life with options.

“Being sustainable means having the option to say, ‘Today I’m going to rest. Today I’m going to make that smoothie I love. Today I get to choose.”

From free farmers markets and college readiness programs to mental health hikes that have literally saved lives, The Black Neighborhood isn’t about disruption for disruption’s sake—it’s about care as a counter-force. Movement as medicine. Gathering as a revolutionary act.

MORE ABOUT CORY

Cory Elliott is a respected community leader and strategist committed to equity, education, and sustainable impact. As President and CEO of The Black Neighborhood (TBN), he leads programs that center healing, youth development, and economic empowerment, helping to build safer, more connected neighborhoods. Cory’s work is deeply tied to legacy, land, and leadership. Whether guiding young men through rites of passage, coordinating food access initiatives, or building out civic engagement programs, he is focused on creating lasting systems of care, justice, and opportunity.

Cory Elliott is a respected community leader and strategist committed to equity, education, and sustainable impact. As President and CEO of The Black Neighborhood (TBN), he leads programs that center healing, youth development, and economic empowerment, helping to build safer, more connected neighborhoods.

With a Master’s in Teaching from Relay Graduate School of Education and a Bachelor of Science from Howard University, Cory blends academic training with grassroots experience. Through Elliott & Associates Consulting Group, he partners with nonprofits to design trauma-informed programs, lead fundraising efforts, and strengthen organizational infrastructure.

Cory’s work is deeply tied to legacy, land, and leadership. Whether guiding young men through rites of passage, coordinating food access initiatives, or building out civic engagement programs, he is focused on creating lasting systems of care, justice, and opportunity.

“The point of the hikes is to take care of ourselves. And as we continue to take care of ourselves and find healthy, natural, free ways to congregate and to be together, and then on these hikes you may meet someone that has a job offer. You may meet a Black dentist. You may meet an OBGYN. And so now there’s more connections that are happening. And I do think that that disrupts the control factor that so many of our black communities are living under.
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— Cory