Malik Ahmed Email and Phone Number

For over 50 years, Malik Ahmed has worked in the field of community development, establishing initiatives in the United States on the east coast, in the Midwest, and in West Africa. Mr. Ahmed is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Better Family Life, Inc. (BFL), a community development corporation. BFL has emerged as one of the fastest growing community development organizations serving the St. Louis Metropolitan area; employing 150 full-time professionals. BFL has an annual operating budget of over 10 million dollars. Under Mr. Ahmed’s leadership, BFL has developed youth in-school & after-school programs operating in 15 public schools; cultural arts programs and classes; housing counseling and down payment assistance programs, as well as community outreach initiatives that focus on crime prevention, self-awareness and safety. In keeping with his avocation to uplift African Americans who are unemployed, underemployed and skill deficient, he played a key role in the design and implementation of Project R.E.S.P.E.C.T., a job readiness program for the chronically unemployed. Over the past 20 years, this initiative has helped over 3000 individuals find full-time employment, resulting in hundreds of families achieving home ownership for the first time. Under his leadership, Better Family Life purchased the former Ralph Waldo Emerson Elementary School located at 5415 Page Boulevard in St. Louis, MO, for the purpose of converting it into the Better Family Life Cultural, Educational and Business Center (CEBC). It underwent, among other things, a $17 million renovation. The CEBC has become a hub of community activities and has attracted people from around the country and abroad. BFL’s current initiative is to renovate 100 single-family homes along and surrounding Page Boulevard from Union Boulevard to the City limits. The estimated cost of this project could exceed $20 million.Mr. Ahmed has received numerous local, national and international awards.