Anthony Watters: A Baltimore Corps Alumnus Championing Health Equity and Social Enterprises
At Baltimore Corps, we recognize people are what make our city great and are in the business of connecting them to powerful opportunities that uplift lives and communities. That’s why we’re committed to bringing people together to drive meaningful, systemic change.
We blend our values and passion for equity and racial justice with technical know-how to help social impact leaders and entrepreneurs turn their innovative visions into reality. That’s led to an incredible alumni network rich in diversity and experience.
As part of our 10-year anniversary celebration, we’re putting the spotlight on our amazing alumni, like Anthony Watters, a member of the third cohort (2018–2019) of Baltimore Corps’ Elevation Awards program.
Meet Anthony Watters, Elevation Awards Cohort 3
Anthony is the founder of More Watter Co. and director of the Social Innovation Lab at Johns Hopkins University. A Baltimore City native, he is also the co-founder of It Takes One inc, a Baltimore-based nonprofit that provides scholarships and programming for Baltimore City high school graduates and the Runners Run Collective, which hosts running events to connect communities through the power of running. Last summer, Anthony was named to Technical.ly’s 2023 RealList Connectors as one of “20 people giving Baltimore someone to lean on.”
As a “Baltimore guy through and through,” Anthony talks about his motivation for addressing health inequity and how social enterprises are key to “making Baltimore better.”
Who or what is an inspiration for your work?
Baltimore is my inspiration as well as my mom. First, I am a Baltimore guy through and through and trying to figure out how to better my community and my city. It is my home and it’s important to me. I hate to see the challenges and barriers we face in our city lead to detrimental outcomes. Additionally, when I got back home from college and was figuring out my career, my mom was diagnosed with lupus and I saw how it impacted her body. That’s when I learned how conditions like autoimmune diseases, high blood pressure, and heart disease affect Black folks and how disproportionate all this is. I see us dying from chronic conditions and social determinants of health, so this really motivates me.
I truly and deeply believe that social enterprises are one of the main pieces to the puzzle to making Baltimore better. You can be socially impactful and scale that impact and also create revenue models that allow you to be economically impactful as well.
What is a current project you’re working on that’s focused on equity
Equity is at the center of everything we do at More Watter Co. and we’re very intentional about being place-based in Black and brown communities that are underserved by traditional healthcare services. These are communities that need resources, who are dying earlier, and are the hardest for healthcare systems to engage. There is a big inequity when it comes to health in Baltimore in red-lined, “Black Butterfly” neighborhoods, so to build a space where people can come to get healthy is powerful. These communities are food deserts, gym deserts, greenspace deserts, tech deserts, all of it! I think your environment nudges your behaviors. By redesigning the environment we can nudge people toward better behaviors.
In your professional or personal life, what is one way you are growing? Something you are intentionally learning more about?
My time with the Social Innovation Lab has changed my lens and I am thinking not only about my own social enterprise work but how to grow social enterprises in general. I truly and deeply believe that social enterprises are one of the main pieces to the puzzle to making Baltimore better. You can be socially impactful and scale that impact and also create revenue models that allow you to be economically impactful as well. So I am interested in connecting people in the social innovation space, finding more funding, and finding ways to build capacity. The problems I deal with as an entrepreneur, I see my peers dealing with too. So, I am trying to think about how we can collectively solve some of these issues.
How would you like to see this Alumni Network work together to make a stronger Baltimore?
Something that can happen to social entrepreneurs like myself is that we go through these programs, like Elevation Awards, like Social Innovation Lab or OSI (Open Society Institute-Baltimore), to get funding and we are then over-mentored and under-funded. There are a lot of benefits from these programs but afterward the needs still remain. So I am wondering, how can we continue to accelerate the growth of social enterprises once folks leave these programs? It can be hard for minority founders who are trying to do something that is socially impactful. We need funding, connections, staff and interns. I think we can be creative to get folks more resources especially around funding, capacity building, and procurement. I would like this network to do more collaborative work and build more connections to each other.
To learn more, visit More Watter Co. and follow on Instagram, Facebook, and X (formerly Twitter). Connect with Anthony on LinkedIn.
About Baltimore Corps
Celebrating 10 years of impact, Baltimore Corps is dedicated to driving social change and equity in Baltimore and beyond. We empower individuals at all career stages by creating opportunities in service learning, social entrepreneurship, and leadership. Our mission is to dismantle systemic injustices by matching talent with opportunity, building a stronger, more equitable workforce. Now expanding nationally, we’re sharing our successful model with other cities, starting with Birmingham Corps. Learn more at baltimorecorps.org
