Delshan Hanks

“We want to develop skills so that a client isn’t getting an entry-level job, but getting a career. It’s one person at a time, but if we keep going in this direction, there’s definitely hope for the city. Every single client I meet makes me think our work is important. Every single person has gotten something out of the program, even if they don’t follow every step. They have knowledge they didn’t have before they stepped through the doors. People don’t know how to dress, they don’t know what types of jobs are out there—they set the bar too low. We set the bar pretty high, but we need to keep setting it even higher.”

“We want to develop skills so that a client isn’t getting an entry-level job, but getting a career.”

Delshan grew up in low-income Baltimore neighborhoods and, while her family had struggles, she also had many positive influences. Her grandmother supported her until her mother completed recovery from drug addiction and stepped back in. Although her father was not in her home, and he himself was not a college graduate, he always stressed education. Because everyone thought she was smart, she decided she wanted to be an astrophysicist-because it “just sounded like the smartest thing you could be.” She is a graduate of Stanford University and Johns Hopkins University. She now serves as the Director of Program Planning and Evaluation at CFUF.