BALTIMORE, MD (Thursday, April 1, 2021) — Mayor Brandon M. Scott is announcing the appointment of Faith Leach to serve as Deputy Mayor for Equity, Health and Human Services in his administration. Leach will work closely with the philanthropic community and support a portfolio of City agencies on the front line of quality-of-life issues within the City of Baltimore, including recreation and parks, library services, Baltimore’s COVID-19 public health response, and the City’s most vulnerable populations, including children and family services and those neighbors experiencing homelessness.

“I am thrilled to welcome experienced leader and committed public servant Faith Leach to Baltimore as my Deputy Mayor for Equity, Health and Human Services,” said Mayor Brandon M. Scott. “Faith is genuinely committed to building better systems and removing barriers for residents and neighborhoods that have historically been forgotten. Her dedication to racial and economic equity make her the perfect addition to my executive team as we build a new way forward for Baltimore.” 

Leach currently serves as Chief of Staff at the JPMorgan Chase & Co. Foundation. In her role, she oversaw the Foundation’s commitment to invest $2 billion over 5 years to advance inclusive economic growth in vulnerable communities across the globe. She was instrumental in the development and deployment of the firm’s $200M commitment to address the profound economic and public health challenges resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as in the development of JPMorgan’s $30 billion commitment to advance racial equity. JPMorgan recently expanded to Baltimore, opening branches across the city, including in Cherry Hill. The firm made a commitment to provide much needed capital to entrepreneurs of color, support minority depository institutions like Harbor Bank, and work with local organizations to address the financial health of South Baltimore residents.

Leach has spent more than 15 years working to address the key drivers of economic inequality that fuel the racial wealth divide. Prior to her time at JPMorgan Chase & Co., she served as the Chief of Staff to the Deputy Mayor for Greater Economic Opportunity under DC Mayor Muriel Bowser. She stood up a first-of-its-kind government agency focused on cutting across silos to address the social determinants of health for vulnerable populations in overlooked and underserved neighborhoods across Washington, DC.

In her role she oversaw a cluster of agencies critical to expanding economic opportunity in the District, including the Department of Employment Services, the Department of Small and Local Business Development, the Workforce Investment Council and the Office of African American Affairs. While in the Mayor’s Office, she led a multi-agency approach to violence prevention, led the Deputy Mayor for Education’s cross-agency efforts to reduce truancy, and supported the establishment of the City Administrator’s Office of Performance Management.

Leach will assume her post in mid-April. She will round out the Deputy Mayors in the Scott administration, serving alongside Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Sunny Schnitzer and Deputy Mayor for Community and Economic Development Ted Carter.