Virginia L. Grant is the founder and CEO of The Virginia L. Grant Foundation, which operates Stand for Youth, a non-profit organization serving middle, high school, and opportunity youth in New Orleans. Stand for Youth provides STEAM, life skills, job training, advocacy, and community programs. Ms. Grant has over 20 years of experience in enterprise systems management and human capital management. She previously founded Diversity Solution's, Inc., an executive search and enterprise systems management company that served as a federal contractor. Ms. Grant holds advanced degrees in computer science, public administration, and law.

1. VIRGINIA L. GRANT’S PROFILE
Ms. Grant is the Founder/CEO of The Virginia L. Grant Foundation, Inc. d/b/a Stand for
Youth.™ The organization was incorporated in 2007, and the initial start-up funds were
provided by Ms. Grant.
Stand for Youth™ is a charitable, non-profit youth services organization serving middle, high
school and opportunity youth. Created in response to Hurricane Katrina and the thousands of
disenfranchised youth remaining in New Orleans after the storm, Stand for Youth™ was one of
the first organizations in New Orleans to have a 5-Year MOU with the Recovery School District.
Stand for Youth™ provides STEAM-infused academic enrichment programs, evidenced-based
life skills training programs, job training/workforce development programs that offer nationally
recognized certifications from industry recognized certifying authorities, student advocacy and
mentorship programs to ensure that basic needs are met, and community empowerment
programs via the organization’s One Dream/One Voice initiatives. Collectively these programs
are referred to as From School to Life with wellness at the core. Ms. Grant is also a part of the
Maryland Out of School Time’s 2016-2017 STEMbassador Learning Community
The goal of the Job Skills Training program is to assist in the revitalization of the economy and
do its part to end poverty as we know it, by providing workforce development training in high
demand/low supply industries, particularly in the building & construction trades, engineering,
healthcare and technology industries. Our top priority however, is to increase high school
graduation rates amongst urban youth and to prepare students for college and/or careers.
Ms. Grant has more than 20 years of Enterprise Systems Management experience and an
extensive back- ground in strategy, performance management and performance metric design,
program management, and human capital management. Additional core competencies are in
the development of innovative programs aligned with mission and strategic intent, and the
assembling and development of high-performance teams.
In 1999, Ms. Grant founded Diversity Solution’s, Inc. (DSI) as an executive search and
enterprise systems management company. DSI grew to include IntelliStrat, a business unit
focused on providing human capital, enterprise systems management, program management,
and strategy products and services to the Federal Government and private industry. DSI was a
100% woman owned and operated small disadvantaged business. Additionally it was 8(a) and
HubZone certified, and held a GSA MOBIS Schedule. DSI had Minority Business Enterprise
(MBE) certifications in the District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia and Louisiana. From 2004
through 2009. DSI served as a PRIME Federal Contractor. Clients during this span of time
included the United States Air Force, Defense Intelligence Agency, and the Undersecretary for
Defense, Intelligence Directorate. Ms. Grant holds a Masters Degree in Computer Science (Pace
University), a Masters Degree in Public Administration, and Bachelors Degree in Pre-Law (John
Jay College of Criminal Justice).
Ms. Grant wrote the first fully funded grant (2002) for the James E. Lewis Museum of Art post-
911. This grant was funded by Baltimore City Public Schools and Johns Hopkins Medicine. The
grant provided inner city youth with access to a state of the art fine arts experience. Initiated at
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2. Virginia L. Grant’s Bio
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Morgan State University’s then new Carl Murphy Fine Arts Center in the Spring of 2002, this
program was implemented using fine art professors, and MSDE Certified Art Teachers with
MSU undergraduate art students serving as both assistants in the classroom and mentors to
youth served. To date, more than 70 Baltimore area elementary, middle and high schools have
participated in the James E. Lewis Year-Round-Youth Art Institute.
Ms. Grant also started the first Girls Scouts Troop in Baltimore County for teenage girls with
learning disabilities, participates in college and high school job fairs regularly, and has
sponsored Star Reading Programs in elementary schools. She has also participated in a broad
range of other programs geared towards empowering youth, serving as both Sponsor and
Mentor.