Newsletter

A note from our founding CEO, Aisha Nyandoro ⬇️

“April is always one of my favorite Springboard months. There is so much going on in these late spring months, but the highlight for me is our annual Night of Storytelling. For the last 6 years, our Night of Storytelling has been a special place where our families get to take center stage and share their stories, passions, and true lived experiences with our partners, our board, and the greater Jackson community. After they share, they are invited to be in conversation with an invited guest to dig more deeply into their stories and expand on their experiences. But this year, we got to do something new. Instead of our moms sharing their stories, we had three of our Springboard youth take the stage to share their stories with the world. Our work has always been grounded in a whole-family approach, and as we have built our guaranteed income work and other programming, we always believed that these investments would not just bear fruit in the lives of mothers but also their children, extended families, and the communities around them.”

READ THE FULL NEWSLETTER HERE

We are working on a full video recap of the Night of Storytelling along with some behind-the-scenes interviews with our youth storytellers that will be featured on our social media and other platforms soon. But for now, watch this teaser from this powerful evening.

CEO Aisha Nyandoro’s latest op-ed for Forbes came out this month. In it, she shares how the recent government shutdown and failure to pay TSA workers should signal a larger warning about how fragile financial life has become for so many working families in America and what we need to do to fix it. 

If you’re looking to hear from us in a different format, Aisha was also just interviewed for Prentiss Hemphill’s podcast, Becoming the People. During the interview, they talk about The Magnolia Mother’s Trust, the true meaning of wealth, and a new vision for what can help communities thrive.

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We know our regular newsletter readers have already met our featured mom this month, Javonica! But she has recently been featured in our latest Front & Center piece reflecting on her time after The Magnolia Mother’s Trust (Her first piece was about a month after she started in our previous cohort.). She also shares more about having had the opportunity to share her story and go grocery shopping with Vice President Kamala Harris back in January. We promise her story and accompanying video are ones you won’t want to miss! 

With love,

Team Springboard

The First Springboard Newsletter of 2026

✨ OUR JANUARY HIGHLIGHTS ⬇️

1. We’re not going to lie; the highlight of our January was definitely the visit from Vice President Harris. We are so grateful the VP and her team were willing to take time out of a very busy tour schedule to be in conversation with our families. We know it is an experience they will never forget.

2. Early in February, we’ll be headed to the Mississippi State Capitol for our annual legislative advocacy day. This month, we held a training for our fellows who will be there to make sure they were prepared with talking points and strategies for the day. We’ll recap the legislative advocacy day in next month’s newsletter.

3. While the start of the second semester is not technically a new school year, we know that by halfway through the year, many students need a refresh. We held mini back-to-school drives in each of our communities – with uniforms and supplies – to ensure every child in our community was prepared for the rest of the school year.

OUR 2025 FELLOWSHIP EVALUATION & THEORY OF CHANGE IS HERE

Our Resident Spotlight: Nicole 💚

There is no denying that we are living through challenging and chaotic times, but it is our belief that the greatest opportunities we have for change lie in the solutions developed in community. We hope programs like our fellowships will help inspire more community-driven advocacy and policy work around the country that can move us toward policies and systems where everyone’s voice is valued, and everyone is given what they need to succeed and thrive.

With love,

Team Springboard

Dear Springboard to Opportunities Partners,

Normally, as we head into the final days of October, we’re sharing pictures of kids in costumes and highlights from our Halloween and Fall Festival events. Unfortunately, this year, we’re facing something far scarier as we come to the end of the month.

Starting November 1st, due to the government shutdown, the federal government will stop providing the monthly SNAP funds that families use to purchase groceries for their households. Despite having approximately $6 billion in SNAP contingency reserves available, the current administration has claimed it would be “illegal” to use these funds without appropriation from Congress.

But let’s be very clear about what is actually going on here: The administration is using people’s lives and their ability to feed their families as a leverage point for their own political power. There has been no hesitation before about using funds for projects without appropriation, and we know the USDA had written in using the contingency funds as part of their plan in the event of a government shutdown.

Instead, lawmakers are being given the false choice of fighting for essential health insurance subsidies that low- and moderate-income families desperately need to afford healthcare or ensuring 42 million Americans are able to put food on their table next month. While there is plenty of money for ballrooms and ICE agents, we somehow cannot find the funds to save millions of American families from literally starving.

In a survey of our Springboard families, we found that, on average, a family will lose $522.89 per month in SNAP benefits that they desperately need to buy groceries and feed their children. Our families work in jobs with wages that are not high enough to cover even the basic expenses of rent, utilities, child care, and food. Cutting off this lifeline will make it impossible to meet those demands.

YOU READ THE FULL NEWSLETTER HERE

Our October Highlights Include:

1. 1. Our pumpkin patches and Halloween events in all of our communities, ensuring that – even with limited funds – families have a space to celebrate together.

2. Our Workforce Systems and Education Advocacy fellows have been celebrating the end of their 9-month fellowships with trips to New Orleans, Louisiana and Montgomery, Alabama to visit sites like The Ruby Bridges Foundation and The Legacy Museum.

3. Three fellows traveled to Baton Rouge, Louisiana to participate in the Child Care for Every Family Grassroots Assembly. While there, they connected with other parent and provider advocates and strategized how to build power for childcare advocacy across the Southeast.

Our Resident Spotlight: Deneader