In 2017, Aisha Nyandoro came to a sobering realization. As founder and CEO of the nonprofit Springboard to Opportunities in Jackson, Miss., she was committed to helping lift families in local public housing into the next phase—a place of their own.
Press
Aisha Nyandoro – TIME100 NEXT 2024
Meaningful change often begins with having the courage and curiosity to ask nonobvious questions. Aisha Nyandoro, the founding CEO of Springboard to Opportunities in Jackson, Miss., has become a national leader in the quest to end generational poverty by basing her work on a radically practical approach: listening to those most in need.
2024 Heinz Awards | Aisha Nyandoro
Springboard CEO Aisha Nyandoro was selected as a 2024 Heinz Award winner for her innovative approach to equipping mothers to exit poverty and changing narratives around who deserves trust and care.
CEO Aisha’s Nyandoro’s conversation with Dr. Tressie McMillan Cottom
Anyone who does work that is thinking about a tomorrow is hopeful.
I have been thinking about those words from Dr. Tressie McMillan Cottom since I had the honor of interviewing her at Bold New Consensus earlier this month. Our conversation was part of the larger event, hosted by Economic Security Project in collaboration with the Roosevelt Institute, Community Change, and the Hewlett Foundation celebrating the progress we have achieved in building an economy that works for everyone, and setting the course for a bigger, bolder economic paradigm for our collective future.
Our full, joy-filled conversation explored possibilities like rewriting the social contract into one that rejects the premise that there have to be winners or losers, or those who are deserving and undeserving. We explored the probing questions that recognize our current cultural narratives and what we seek to create new, better ones. We talked about the seeds others planted before us that we discovered, and the ones we are planting ourselves that we trust will bloom for others in the future. The hopes that we have for all the tomorrows to come.
It is easy to look at all that is happening around us and fall into pessimism. Inflation, suffering around the world, unaffordable housing, constant threats of economic downturn, a gridlocked Congress that can barely keep the government open, let alone think about reimaging a better economy and future for all people. It is no wonder that so many have leaned toward despair or simply apathy in times like these.
And yet, there are still so many of us doing work focused on tomorrow.
We end every interview or story sharing opportunity with our moms asking them what is giving them hope right now. Most often, we hear them talk about their children, their family, or their communities – the people around them who they are working to create better tomorrows for. Our families continue to inspire this same hope for us, and we trust that our work is contributing to better tomorrows for the South, Black families, and people living in poverty across the country.
As we look toward the end of 2023, we want to ask you the same question – what right now is bringing you hope? And what work for tomorrow will you put in today to make that hope a reality?
Your in Service,
Aisha Nyandoro
CEO
The Magnolia Mother’s Trust Featured on The Kelly Clarkson Show!
Exciting news! Our CEO, Aisha Nyandoro, and Magnolia Mother’s Trust Recipient, Sequaya Coleman, were featured on an episode of The Kelly Clarkson Show! Watch the full video below!
Magnolia Mother’s Trust Marks a History-Making Three Cycles of Paying Black Mothers $1,000 a Month
The Mississippi fund is the longest-running guaranteed income program in the United States.