The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation and Rutgers Institute for Ethical Leadership are excited to announce the launch of The Nonprofit Professionals of Color Collective, a new leadership series beginning this month.
The Nonprofit Professionals of Color Collective is designed to provide a caucus space for New Jersey nonprofit professionals of color to engage in a supportive community for growth, professional development, and meaningful peer relationships. It will be facilitated by Victoria Fernandez, acting program director of Rutgers Institute for Ethical Leadership, and Tyneisha Gibbs, founder and principal of 144th & Vine, and held monthly over the course of nine months at locations in Newark and Central Jersey.
At the heart of the Nonprofit Professionals of Color Collective is the belief that “nonprofit leaders, no matter their experience, can benefit from a multi-pronged approach to professional development and that leaders of color are rich with knowledge and will benefit from a nurturing and stimulating support network,” Fernandez said.
The Nonprofit Professionals of Color Collective is not your typical leadership or workshop series.
Over the course of the gatherings, participants will be invited to engage in sessions about relevant topics for nonprofit professionals of color, enjoy facilitated peer-to-peer time, receive one-on-one coaching, peer and executive mentoring, and hang-out with plenty of like-minded social profit sector movers and shakers.
Potential facilitated topics covered throughout the series include: Class and colorism, safe spaces and intersectionality, recognizing inner power, shifting systems, and navigating upward mobility, recognizing and managing allies, politics in the workplace, speaking truth to power and consequences, and fundraising.
Nonprofit professionals of color working in all levels of service in the nonprofit sector, including executives, directors, direct service staff, entry-level staff, board members, and more. This includes those who identify as, live their daily lives as, and understand themselves as people of color.
Dodge and the Institute for Ethical Leadership are collaborating on the series. As part of our ongoing commitment to providing technical assistance opportunities for our grantees, the series is in alignment with our recent strategic plan and vision for an equitable New Jersey through creative, engaged, sustainable communities.
Many of our grantees have asked us to support a caucus for professionals of color over the past several years, and we are pleased to partner with Rutgers Institute for Ethical Leadership. The Institute has demonstrated their commitment and expertise to supporting leaders of color through their multiple training programs.
The series launches with an Opening Gathering from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 24 at Rutgers-Newark. Advance registration for each workshop, limited to 50 participants, is required.