Recipient of the 2024 Marcia G. Cooke Award

After being raised by a single mother through the murder of his father and subsequent homelessness, Darius Baxter committed his life to creating pathways for families in similar situations to make it out of poverty. 

Since graduating from Georgetown University with his degree in Globalization and Poverty, Baxter pursued these passions through several social impact ventures,  facilitating millions of investment dollars and resources into low-income communities in the US and abroad. Most notably, Baxter seeks to serve others as the CEO of GOODProjects. He continues to give back to his hometown of Washington, DC by developing the GOODZone in 2018, to provide options and opportunity to 500 families living in public housing.

His passion is fueled by the belief that this generation has the tools and techniques to eradicate global poverty through collaboration, education, and technology. He launched the Baxter Family Kid’s Center in 2019 to address the need for quality education for the underserved in one of Kenya’s largest slums. 

Darius Baxter was named to the 2021 Forbes “30 Under 30” List, awarded the Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Award in Spirituality, and recognized as one of this generation’s emerging thought leaders and community organizers. He serves on the board of DC Central Kitchen and has collaborated on projects across industries with Wondros and UNITE. Baxter’s work has been highlighted by national publications like The New York Times, 60 Minutes, and NPR, but his proudest accomplishment is receiving the Brickies Award for Community Organization in 2020 on behalf of GoodProjects, an award decided  by the residents in the public housing community he serves.