board names justin hampton as new executive director

Common Ground Montgomery (CGM), a youth and community development ministry in Montgomery, Alabama, today announced that Justin Hampton was selected as the executive director by the board of directors, effective July 10, 2017. Hampton succeeds CGM founder Bryan Kelly as executive director. Kelly remains on staff, teaching and mentoring, as well as continuing to develop networking and donor relations for CGM's Montgomery efforts and beyond.

Of his new role, Hampton said: "I can think of no greater pursuit than leading the Washington Park focused efforts of CGM. It’s where I played my youth football. It’s where I graduated from high school (St. Jude). It’s where I attended church services as a child. It’s where my mother and her eight siblings were raised. Its love is deeply rooted in my heart and its success in this season is my calling."

"We believe God is shaping our organization towards expanded and deeper impact where we are in the Washington Park community, but also towards growth into other Montgomery areas and beyond," said Kelly. "By expanding our leadership team, we will be able to pivot our organization and grow our impact towards replication and training other leaders to do transformative works in other areas of poverty."

Hampton, a graduate of Tuskegee University, worked with CGM for five years before leaving to get his Master's Degree in Public Administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Prior to returning back to Montgomery, Hampton lived in Washington, D.C., and worked as a management consultant with Booz Allen Hamilton.

CGM is a youth and community development ministry, whose programs include an after school program, summer camp, college internship program, and student mentoring. It was started in 2006 to serve the Washington Park and Gibbs Village community of west Montgomery.