Corey Marionneaux founded the Black Men Coalition Foundation in 2020. Now he’s scaling it up.

Six years into forming a nonprofit, Corey Marionneaux is in something of a reset. The founder and CEO of the Black Men Coalition Foundation says his group has been making the transition from “grassroots” to “established.”

“When you’re established, bigger donors are comfortable giving to you. When you’re established, it’s a little less stress with the organization and your team and your board. When you’re established, you have a working board. When you’re established, things continue in a more comfortable way,” says Marionneaux, reflecting inside his nonprofit headquarters at 5 N. Pinckney St. on the Capitol Square. Juicy Organics, his for-profit lounge and juice bar, shares the same address and is sandwiched by the nonprofit’s two office spaces.

Marionneaux, 50, is a tall man with an easy smile. He has plenty of other expressions, necessitated by being raised on the streets of Chicago and spending several stints in prison, where he, among other activities, counseled inmates.

He describes himself as someone with a “strong motor” — he stays up late and gets up early. As someone who’s “experienced a lot of things in life,” he can’t help but leave his cell phone ringer on when he goes to bed. “It could be someone’s life on the line,” he says.

In 2020, Marionneaux was managing food deliveries, first for a food pantry, then for chef Dave Heide. His  phone began ringing at all hours of the day with people searching for a job. Heide began telling Marionneaux that he was the “Black Men Coalition.”

The name stuck. Marionneaux started his nonprofit with his fiancé, Ashiantii Collier-Slaton, who is now the group’s director of programming. They were helped by a network of private donors, including Diane Ballweg, CEO of Endres Manufacturing, and by Michael Johnson, the former head of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Dane County who died suddenly in June.

“[Johnson] trusted me when most people wouldn’t,” says Marionneaux, describing how the late CEO introduced him to donors and supporters to help grow his nonprofit quickly. He says he would talk with Johnson on the phone multiple times a day: “He gave me the game when I didn’t know what the hell it consists of.”

The nonprofit offers job placement services, free transportation to work, and financial literacy classes. Marionneaux estimates the Black Men Coalition Foundation has served thousands already. The nonprofit also offers professional certificates through Cornell University’s eCornell program. Certificates are also available to those incarcerated in the Dane County Jail.

Services are open to all in Dane County, though Marionneaux admits his group’s name has caused confusion. But, he adds, “I’m not changing the name.” The nonprofit is proof that Black men can exist outside of the school-to-prison pipeline, he says.

In 2022, the Black Men Coalition Foundation started a youth baseball league. Marionneaux says it’s the only free youth baseball league in the nation. In 2026, 420 kids participated in the league.

 The work is mainly funded through private philanthropy, with some grant assistance. In 2024, the nonprofit had $2.7 million in total assets, according to its 990 form filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Financial statements for 2025 are forthcoming due to an audit, but Marionneaux describes the nonprofit as now a “$3 million plus” organization.

Recently, Marionneaux has gotten certified to be an addiction counselor through UW-Madison. It’s part of the groundwork for Community Restoration, Marionneaux’s other for-profit venture. He plans soon to open a 30-bed addiction recovery facility in Sun Prairie and a housing development in Monona.

Marionneaux also has big plans in 2027 to expand the Black Men Coalition Foundation into Milwaukee County. “We’re already kind of ready,” he says. “We’re just not pulling the trigger yet.”

This article is part of The Nonprofit Issue, the special November 2026 print edition of Isthmus. See the other stories here.