Ralikh Hayes serves as a Community Organizer at the LDF. Prior to joining LDF, Hayes was a housing paralegal and development associate at the Public Justice Center in Baltimore, Maryland. As a young person raised in the heart of Baltimore City, Ralikh began his journey of combating social injustice in 2007 when he served as a young organizer/math tutor with the Baltimore Algebra Project (BAP). During his tenure at BAP, he was promoted to Co-Director and later served as Board President. Hayes also led campaigns to end the school-to-prison pipeline and increase public school funding in Maryland.
In 2015, in response to the police in-custody death of Freddie Gray, an unarmed Black man, Hayes co-founded Organizing Black, a grassroots membership led organization dedicated to fighting for the liberation of all Black people. Hayes has a depth of experience in leading and supporting local, state, national, and international grassroot campaigns. Hayes has served as a lead organizer for the Alliance for Educational Justice, Baltimore United for Change, and the Movement for Black Lives, to name a few campaigns.