Spotlight: Educational non-profits to know

It is easy to get overwhelmed when thinking about all that needs to be done just from an educational standpoint to help underserved African Americans, and minorities in general, realize their full potential.  The key is to break it down.  How do you eat an elephant?  One bite at a time.  These three people I'm highlighting today are taking a "bite" out of the challenge at a local, regional and national level. 

On the local level Jovanne Grace is an organizational entrepreneur, generation Z advocate and speaker. Her passion for empowering young adults and connecting communities led her to organize the Z Summit in Chicago for NextGen Leaders. The summit provides career exploration and experience for high school students from traditionally underserved communities who are the next generation of leaders. Children are our future and the Z Summit is committed to immersing students in workshops and networking sessions that provide exposure to and perspective on a wide range of career opportunities.

The future demands emerging leaders with professional skills, confidence and experience. Aimee Eubanks Davis is working on the regional level as the CEO of Braven, a growing nonprofit focused on ensuring that underrepresented college students are able to land their first jobs upon graduation. Aimee’s dedication stems from nearly a decade of experience at Teach for America and seeing her former students struggle to make the transition from college to career.  Her passion has reached more than a thousand students across her hometown of Chicago, IL; San Francisco, CA and Newark, NJ.

John Rice is a social entrepreneur passionate about transforming talented students into future leaders. John is the founder and CEO of Management Leadership for Tomorrow (MLT), a national non-profit that equips underrepresented minorities with the playbook, coaching and relationships required for high-impact leaders. MLT is a leading source of minority talent for partnering companies including Goldman Sachs, Google, Citi and Target as well as MBA programs.