Dean Richards is the Philanthropy Fellow at the BNY Mellon Foundation of Southwestern Pennsylvania. In this role, Dean provides administrative support for the foundation, researches areas of interest and best practices, conducts due diligence on assigned grants, and provides continuity with long-term grantees and those grants already in the pipeline.
Dean brings to his current role over 15 years of direct service within the nonprofit sector. Most recently, he served as the Program Manager for the Black Male Leadership Development Institute (BMLDI)-a program of the Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh in partnership with Robert Morris University. Under his leadership, BMLDI, tripled its outreach to connect with hundreds of youth from across the Greater Pittsburgh region and exposed them to more than 130 community leaders, helping to visualize their path to post-high school academic success. Dean has also worked to serve youth through his creation and facilitation of close to 200 curriculum-based workshops which include those he led in partnership with the U.S. Department of Justice through its Student Problem Identification and Resolution of Issues Together (S.P.I.R.I.T.) program. Dean is passionate about volunteerism and has orchestrated both large- and small-scale events resulting in more than 7,200 hours of service-learning experience.
Dean holds a Bachelor of Liberal Arts degree with a concentration in Nonprofit Management from the University of Pittsburgh. He is a native of the area and currently resides in the southside of the city.