Below is a letter from our CEO Aisha Nyandoro after being named to the 2024 TIME100 Next List.
Dear Springboard to Opportunities Partners,
I am starting this morning filled with joy and gratitude. Today, I was named to TIME’s annual TIME100 Next list, a list recognizing leaders and innovators across a variety of disciplines and from across the world who are rising leaders shaping society’s future. I am truly honored and humbled to be listed alongside so many other great leaders across the world.
It has been a whirlwind of a couple of weeks with interviews, photo shoots, and preparing for this release. But I am taking a moment this morning to soak it all in and express my gratitude to all who have made this possible. While it might be my name attached to these recent awards and honors, I am fully aware that none of them have been possible without the Springboard team, our incredible partners, and — most importantly, the families we are privileged to work alongside every day.
Providing Black mothers living in extreme poverty in Mississippi with cash, through a guaranteed income program called The Magnolia Mother’s Trust, was not my idea. It was our families’ idea. They were the ones who told us what they needed to move out of poverty was not another program, but actual cash. They were the ones who told us they needed a system that trusted them to know the best way to care for their families, instead of more excessive paperwork and paternalistic requirements. It has been their stories that have continued to push this work forward, launch over 150 guaranteed income pilots across the country, change social safety net policies across the country, and shift the narratives surrounding Black mothers and families in poverty.
All we did was believe them.
And today, I am grateful that you believed them, too. We are honored to count each and every one of you as a partner on this journey. Together, we can continue to innovate, advocate, and shape society’s future for the better.
Yours in Service,
Aisha Nyandoro
CEO
