CITI FOUNDATION MAKES MAJOR INVESTMENT IN PUBLIC ALLIES’ NEXT WAVE LEADERSHIP PROJECT
YOUNG PEOPLE OF COLOR TRAINED TO ADDRESS INEQUITIES EXPOSED BY COVID-19
[Milwaukee, Wisconsin] In response to the inequities exposed and worsened by COVID-19, Citi Foundation has made a significant investment of $500,000 in the Next Wave Leaders Project, a bold new initiative of Public Allies. For 27 years, Public Allies has been a pioneer in developing and deploying high-impact leaders (aka Allies) from marginalized communities, creating a “human capital” pipeline of 8,000 diverse and equity-centered leaders nationwide. For the next ten months, fifty Allies from across the country, predominantly young people of color, will be trained in equity-centered design and lean impact methodologies to create economic opportunity for those communities hardest hit by the pandemic.
“Supporting our next generation of community leaders is more critical than ever, as COVID-19 continues to disproportionately impact communities of color and underserved youth,” said Brandee McHale, Head of Citi Community Investing and Development and President of the Citi Foundation. “Through Citi Foundation’s partnership with Public Allies as part of the Pathways to Progress initiative, we will provide the training and resources that emerging leaders need to effect positive change and economic opportunity in their communities.”
Citi Foundation’s investment will support the practical, on-the-job learning of emerging leaders through a paid, full-time job placement at a local nonprofit organization, school, or government agency as well as over 200 hours of professional development, job-readiness, professional coaching and leadership training. The Foundation’s support will be focused in the following cities: Chicago, San Francisco/Bay Area, Miami, Detroit, New York, and Baltimore. Participating Allies will serve and be coached locally but will also have the opportunity to connect, learn and lead together across place as part of a united national cohort. It also builds on Public Allies’ decades of experience in developing systems-level interventions and will result in a white paper detailing key findings about the impact of this new leadership model.
About Public Allies
For 27 years, Public Allies has been a pioneer in identifying, developing, and deploying high-impact leaders (aka Allies) from marginalized communities. Our flagship program, a ten-month AmeriCorps apprenticeship, has helped thousands of young adults discover, develop, and leverage their potential, and learn how to apply creative problem-solving skills to systemic challenges. Individually and collectively, they’ve shaped culture, changed policies, and transformed communities across the country. We work in 24 cities and have 8,000 alumni. Eighty percent of our Allies are people of color, sixty percent are women and seventy percent work in the communities from which they come. Combating social injustice is core to who we are.