Kyla Liggett-Creel, PhD, LCSW-C
Executive Director, EMBRACE Initiative
University of Maryland, Baltimore
Kyla Liggett-Creel, PhD, LCSW-C, has spent more than two decades shaping programs and policies that center community voices and expand opportunity across Baltimore. Known widely as “Dr. K,” she has worked with schools, clinics, neighborhoods, and city hall task forces to ensure that those most affected by trauma and systemic inequities are part of solutions. This year, the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) has recognized her extraordinary contributions by naming her the 2025 Founders Week Public Servant of the Year.
Liggett-Creel’s leadership has taken many forms. At the University of Maryland School of Social Work, she coordinated early childhood programs, taught graduate students about structural oppression, and helped secure a $30 million Promise Neighborhoods grant to strengthen cradle-to-career support for families in Upton/Druid Heights. She founded the Healing Youth Alliance, which trains young ambassadors to reduce stigma and promote mental health in the Black community. She co-chaired the Baltimore City Trauma-Informed Task Force and led the Baltimore City Youth Trauma Workgroup. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she led the development and launch of the COVID Conversations hotline to provide accessible, empathetic support to residents.
Building on years of community partnership, Liggett-Creel most recently established the EMBRACE Initiative, which operates across four interconnected areas — violence prevention, youth leadership and development, system transformation, and training and technical assistance — and centers lived experience as the foundation of each.
Liggett-Creel sees these achievements not as her own but as the product of deep collaboration.
“When Dr. Jarrell told me about the Founders Week award, I was humbled,” she said, referring to UMB President Bruce E. Jarrell, MD, FACS. “I don’t feel like I deserve an award. It is the community partners and community leaders who do the hard work. I am honored to receive the award as a symbol of recognizing the amazing boots-on-the-ground work that is done by community members and people with lived experience every day.”
It is through this spirit of collaboration that one of EMBRACE’s most impactful programs emerged — the Embrace Resource and Re-Entry Center (ERRC), which was launched in 2021. The center brings together credible messengers, peers, the UMB Police and Public Safety Department’s Community Outreach and Support Team, licensed social workers, social work interns, and community organizations to remove barriers that traditional social work alone has not been able to address.
As of the latest data, ERRC has helped clients achieve over 3,700 tangible goals, including securing jobs, enrolling in drug treatment, and obtaining essential documents like IDs and birth certificates. ERRC also serves as a pipeline for people returning to society after incarceration by providing comprehensive referral and support services led by fellow returning citizens.
The EMBRACE Initiative’s efforts also have produced measurable results in the city. Working with the Eutaw Street Collaborative, EMBRACE contributed to an 83 percent reduction in open-air drug sales in that corridor. The initiative’s youth justice program achieved a 95 percent rate of no new arrests in the six months following enrollment. Under Liggett-Creel’s leadership, EMBRACE also has provided over $4 million in small grants to nonprofit and grassroots organizations in Baltimore City.
That success led the Baltimore City Council to issue a congratulatory resolution and formal letter of recognition in celebration of Ligget-Creel's Public Servant of Year award. “The EMBRACE Initiative represents the kind of cross-sector collaboration Baltimore needs to strengthen families and communities,” City Council President Zeke Cohen said. “Embedding trauma-informed care into our city’s systems is essential to addressing root causes and breaking cycles of harm. I commend UMB and Dr. Liggett-Creel for their leadership, and the City Council looks forward to continued partnership to ensure Baltimore residents have access to the support and services they deserve.”
Community partners say Liggett-Creel stands out for the way she leads by example and uplifts others. “Whether organizing community caravans to celebrate milestones or connecting residents with critical resources, she embodies servant leadership in every sense,” Joni Holifield, founder of HeartSmiles, wrote in a letter nominating Liggett-Creel for the award. “Her work has not only improved lives — it has inspired a generation of social workers, students, and community leaders to believe in the power of collective healing.”
Liggett-Creel’s leadership also has earned praise from colleagues at UMB. In his nomination letter, Matthew Johnson, lieutenant with UMB Police and Public Safety, described the broad impact of her work. “Dr. Liggett-Creel builds enduring partnerships to tackle pressing social challenges, deepens the connection between UMB and the communities it serves, and ensures that academic resources are aligned with real-world needs,” Johnson wrote.
Looking ahead, Liggett-Creel hopes the recognition will not only honor past accomplishments but also encourage others to follow the same path.
“I hope that some of this work begins the healing process and builds trust between the community and the University as an institution,” Liggett-Creel said. “I also hope that this award will inspire other leaders at the University to include, and center, the voices of those who have lived with the challenges, issues, and barriers that we as a University are studying and trying to address to improve the human condition.”
— Lorri Angelloz
