A staunch social justice advocate and tireless community builder, Dina Walker is the President & CEO of BLU Educational Services/Foundation (BLU), which she established in 2001 (the Foundation was founded in 2009). BLU was founded as a response to the challenges faced by underserved families in California’s Inland Empire to gain access to higher education. BLU partners with nonprofits, governmental agencies and educational institutions dedicated to serving communities of color.
Ms. Walker’s life’s mission is to support policies and programs that reduce barriers to opportunity and improve outcomes for communities of color, with a laser focus on educational and racial justice. For over two decades, she has worked to achieve concrete results for the community she grew up in. One of her crowning achievements was the design and creation of the College Exodus Project which has assisted over 10,000 under-represented students gain admission, scholarships and financial aid to colleges across the nation.
Ms. Walker has held leadership roles in various major educational initiatives: Leadership Excellence, a multifaceted college access agency serving San Diego inner-city youth; DC-College Access Program, a private effort to increase the college matriculation rates of students in the underserved communities of Washington, DC; and she was a driving force in the establishment of Hardy Brown College Prep, one of the Inland Empire’s highest performing public charter schools.
BLU also developed and played a central role in advocating for the passage of Assembly Bill 469 in 2021, a California law that mandates that all high school seniors complete a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) aimed at increasing college access and affordability.
Ms. Walker is a renowned expert in leading highly effective community-building partnerships focused on education and community development. A prime example was BLU’s leadership to publish the groundbreaking Inland Empire Black Education Agenda in collaboration with the Center for Social Innovation (University of California, Riverside), which provides research-based insight and guidance to educators and policy makers on the key priorities for achieving optimal educational outcomes for Black students.
Walker was elected as a Trustee on the Board of Education for the Rialto Unified School District for two terms (2014 – 2022), and served as its President in 2017.
She serves as a Co-Chair of the Black Equity Initiative (BEI), a collective of over 50 Black-led non-profit organizations in the Inland Empire. As a part of this ambitious project, the Black Equity Fund ($5 million) was created as a regional pooled fund to advance racial equity, combat anti-black racism, and to support long-term investments in Black-led organizations.
A true visionary, Walker works on making systemic change affecting Black and Brown communities. For example, San Bernardino’s Purposeful Pathways is an initiative designed to strengthen career pathways for high school students by directly aligning course work, opportunities and support to industry and academic certification and/or degree programs.
Under her proven leadership, BLU receives funding from California’s most prestigious philanthropic organizations, including the California Endowment, the James Irvine Foundation, Weingart Foundation, the California Wellness Foundation and was recently granted a $5 million appropriation from the state of California to increase college and career access.
In addition to her substantial leadership on college access and public education, Ms. Walker has raised millions and provided dedicated leadership to expand civic engagement, develop and train future community leaders. She is now teaching a new generation how to be change makers through BLU’s Institute for Civic Engagement, a leadership pipeline to help those who have historically lacked representation, move into positions of power.
Ms. Walker has received many awards for her community leadership, public service and educational advocacy, including the Woman of Vision and Leadership Award from the 62nd California Assembly District.
Dina Walker holds a B.A. in Education (with Distinction) from San Diego State University and post-baccalaureate studies in Non-Profit Management from the University of Maryland. She is currently writing a book entitled, Black Girls UP! A Real Life Guide to Mentoring Black Girls for Schools and Communities. She is a lifelong member of the Bethel AME Church in Fontana, California and a proud member of DELTA SIGMA THETA Sorority Incorporated, the LINKS Incorporated, and a lifetime member of National Council of Negro Women (NCNW) and the NAACP.