The Goldhirsh Foundation and its LA2050 Initiative announced today that new talent Bryan Byrdlong has joined the organization as Social Media and Communications Fellow.

Byrdlong is an incoming Creative Writing and Literature PhD student at USC, with a focus on poetry. He recently received an MFA in Creative Writing from the Helen Zell Writer's Program at the University of Michigan. His professional background includes working as a public relations fellow and an email marketing coordinator on campaigns for corporate and nonprofit clients. After working remotely earlier this summer from Michigan, he is now in LA.

“We are delighted to formally welcome Bryan to the team -- and to Los Angeles," Tara Roth, president of the Goldhirsh Foundation, says. “It's in our organization's DNA to seek out and collaborate with emerging changemakers who care deeply about making an outsized social impact."

During the past months, Byrdlong worked remotely on the Goldhirsh Foundation's popular My LA2050 Grants Challenge -- an annual open call for ideas to make LA the best place to learn, create, play, connect, and live. A total of $1,000,000 is awarded among 25 organizations to implement their proposals. Each organization receives grant funds and partnership from LA2050 to support its efforts. Additional funding and prizes are often awarded by My LA2050 partners. More than 1,800 past proposals from Los Angeles-area nonprofits, for-profits, individuals and government agencies are available for anyone to search, view, and make donations at the MyLA2050 Ideas Archive.

With this year's Grants Challenge concluded, Byrdlong will now work on a raft of LA2050 social media and communication efforts, including daily social media posting, communications strategy and analysis, and various special creative projects that help catalyze and amplify the work done by vital community, civic, and civil-minded individuals and organizations.

“The Goldhirsh Foundation has a preeminent role in broadcasting the vital services of nonprofits and institutions across the country," Byrdlong says. “I am ecstatic to contribute my communications knowledge to this endeavor."

ABOUT LA2050

LA2050 (www.la2050.org) is an initiative driving and tracking progress toward a shared vision for the future of Los Angeles. We are centered around five unique goals that in 2050 Los Angeles will be the best place to learn, create, play, connect, and live.

Connect with @LA2050 on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn, and sign up here to receive our newsletter, which includes social impact job listings and events.

ABOUT THE GOLDHIRSH FOUNDATION

At the Goldhirsh Foundation, (www.goldhirshfoundation.org), we connect the dots between the best emerging innovations and the financial, social, and human capital to make them thrive.