Alkeyna Aldridge

Executive Director

Alkeyna brings more than a decade of experience at the intersection of inclusive community development, public-sector innovation, and capital access. Most recently, she served as a Senior Advisor for Innovation at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation, where she coached innovation teams embedded in mayors’ offices across the country to solve public problems in racial wealth equity and climate change.

Previously, she was appointed by Mayor Pete Buttigieg as the founding Director of Engagement & Economic Empowerment for the City of South Bend. In this role, she led community wealth-building initiatives, helped secure more than $2 million in philanthropic investment, and advanced local developer capacity, housing, and inclusive economic development strategies. Her work has consistently centered on expanding opportunity through community-led investment and equitable development. She was drawn to TREND because of its focus on leveraging real estate as a tool for transforming people and place - creating pathways for communities to build wealth, shape their neighborhoods, and thrive.