Ballmer

Blue Meridian Partners, a philanthropic venture making massive bets to improve the child welfare field, will become a standalone nonprofit as its foundation home winds down over the next year. The Edna McConnell Clark Foundation (EMCF) has housed the venture since it was launched three years ago with funding commitments from Ballmer Group, The Duke Endowment, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, and several others.

Mentoring saved 41-year-old Gary Clemons’ life. Separated from his mother at age 5, running with violent gangs at 15, father to a visually disabled child at 19, and homeless at 24 — Clemons couldn’t imagine that the mentors who helped him mount these challenges would guide him on to help lead possibly the most hyped and fastest-growing mentorship program in the nation: Friends of the Children.