Joshua Justin Travis

Joshua Justin Travis is a strategic nonprofit executive known for scaling and strengthening youth‑development and public‑health programs. As one of the architects behind Chicago’s Becoming a Man (BAM) and Working on Womanhood (WOW) initiatives, he grew both programs from pilot stages into nationally recognized models, building large teams of coaches and facilitators and establishing program sites across multiple school districts. Travis has led organizational transformations at several Chicago nonprofits, enhancing fundraising capacity, modernizing data systems and forging partnerships with school districts, health systems and community organizations. In recent years he has focused on health equity, working with the Alzheimer’s Association and the Global Alzheimer’s Platform Foundation to design culturally responsive outreach campaigns and improve clinical trial participation among African‑American and Latino communities. A first‑generation college graduate, Travis holds a bachelor’s degree in anthropology (with minors in biological sciences and criminal justice) from Illinois State University and a master’s in nonprofit management from DePaul University; he is completing a doctorate in interdisciplinary leadership at Governors State University. Throughout his career he has been a champion for mentoring, trauma‑informed care and evidence‑based programming, and he sits on advisory boards that support youth and aging populations across Illinois.