Newsletter | Springboard to Opportunities

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

Watch Aisha’s full interview with Dr. Tressie McMillan Cottom.

Deepening and Expanding – Springboard in 2024

It’s hard to believe the first month of 2024 is almost over. In 2023, we celebrated 10 years of Springboard and spent a lot of the year reflecting on the past decade, celebrating our past growth and success, and identifying our strengths and core commitments as we move into the future. Springboard has always been grounded in our radically resident-driven mission, which means that as the needs and goals of our residents and the world around them shifts, our strategy and execution of that mission shifts, too.

With all that in mind, at the beginning of 2023, we started developing a strategic plan to guide the next years of our work. We talked with residents, staff, our partners, and other stakeholders to determine how Springboard can best serve residents in affordable housing. What emerged is 5 priority areas that will be the core of our strategy moving forward.

Resident Relationships

Springboard’s work has always been rooted in strong, trusting relationships with residents of affordable housing. Staff’s main job will always be building and maintaining these relationships. In this next phase of work, Springboard will strengthen its navigation, coaching capacities, referral networks, and partnerships, while continuing to ensure essential resources and basic needs for all residents are met.

Socioeconomic Well-Being

Since 2018, Springboard has been a leader in the direct cash assistance field. Springboard will continue its signature Magnolia Mother’s Trust guaranteed income program, modeling best practices for cash disbursement programs. Springboard will also expand other cash-based initiatives grounded in dignity and trust, such as direct cash disbursements in emergencies and creating new Lending Circles℠. Lending Circles℠ is a social loan program managed by Mission Asset Fund (MAF)

Fellowships

Springboard’s fellowships offer cohort-based learning, personal development, and opportunities for residents to make connections between public policy and their lived experiences to catalyze positive change in their communities. Springboard will deepen and expand these fellowships to provide residents more opportunities for off-site learning, developing meaningful networks, and enhancing their confidence as community leaders.

Policy Advocacy

Springboard believes no one knows better than families themselves how social policies can be improved. Springboard’s community-driven policy agenda centers the voices and lived experiences of our residents and advocates for policies grounded in dignity, equity, and trust. Leveraging a network of partnerships, Springboard finds places for residents’ stories and expertise to be heard, shared, and spur change.

Narrative Change

The vast majority of our country’s poverty policies and strategies are grounded in false beliefs and assumptions about low-income families. Springboard believes it is time for families to tell a new story, by shifting their own internal narratives, recognizing their own self- and community-worth, and sharing their true, lived-experience through media and other platforms willing to amplify residents’ authentic voices.

We have already spent the first month of this year developing a plan and goals for this year’s implementation, and we look forward to sharing this new journey with all of you. Thank you, as always, for your partnership and support on the journey!

The 5th Magnolia Mother’s Trust Cohort is Set to Begin!

We’ve got some big news!

We are so thrilled to announce our 5th cohort of The Magnolia Mother’s Trust (MMT), our guaranteed income program offering $1,000 per month for 12 months with no strings attached, will be launching in October. Over the past several months, we took some time to really analyze the data and feedback we have received from past cohort members and evaluations. Our commitment to being radically resident-driven means we never stop growing and never stop learning alongside our families. As their needs shift, our responses must shift too.

This year’s cohort will be our largest yet with over 100 mothers and will continue to include $1,000 deposits in 529 Children’s Savings Accounts, opportunities for community building, and goal-setting support. But we will also be adding new elements to help make the program even stronger.

For example, we have seen the importance of mental health and self-care support, like we offered through our MISS Program, and how the strengths of that program complemented the strengths of MMT. In response, we’ll be integrating the MISS Program into MMT for interested participants. We also heard families ask for more ways to build savings and education around wealth building. So we’ve created a built-in savings option that moms can opt-into and have increased our support around the 529 investment accounts and education on other wealth-building products.

The Magnolia Mother’s Trust has always been about reimagining what is possible: What’s possible when we give families cash? What’s possible when we trust families to make the best decisions for their own lives? What’s possible when we stop believing the way things have always been is the way things always have to be? Through the program itself we model what’s possible when we’re responsive to family voice and willing to try bold new ideas.

CEO, Aisha Nyandoro, testifies before the U.S. House Ways & Means Work & Welfare Subcommittee

“With so many families in poverty, we come in telling them what it is that they need or what they don’t need or how they must govern their lives. We tell them to take their baton back. But we shouldn’t have their baton to begin with.”

Dear Partners,

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to share the impact of our work in front of the House Ways and Means subcommittee on Work & Welfare, where we discussed the need to reimagine the current TANF system.

As I told Ranking Member Danny Davis, the current system is like putting a band-aid on a geyser.

For years, we have wanted to share with lawmakers the stories of our families, their experiences with programs like TANF, and their insights and expertise that could make them better. I am grateful for the opportunity to have done just that.

Through powerful stories from our families and the successes of The Magnolia Mother’s Trust, I was able to show that programs centering dignity, trust, and family voice can provide powerful alternatives to our current paternalistic and punitive safety net programs. While the focus of the hearing was on recent stories of fraud, it was also an opportunity to challenge legislators to think beyond the current structure and protocols of TANF and reimagine a program based on family’s expressed needs and expertise.

As I said yesterday, “We keep talking about doing an audit of financial spending. How about we actually do an audit of what a family’s needs are? How about we actually have a panel with families to say what is it that they need? What are you dreaming of, and how can we meet you there?”

Once again, I’m honored to have had this opportunity and am continuously grateful to you all for your continued support and belief in the work we do at Springboard To Opportunities. Let us continue to work together to uplift the voices of families and reimagine programs like TANF by taking ourselves out of the equation and instead putting families at the center.

Yours in Service,
Aisha Nyandoro
CEO

Watch Aisha’s Testimony