Sadie Nash Leadership Project (SNLP) was founded in 2001 by Cecilia Clarke, who named the organization in honor of her great grandmother, Virginia “Sadie” Nash. As the story goes, in the winter of 1902, Sadie made national news when she lifted her skirt on a crowded trolley car in Nebraska and removed her petticoat to wrap a freezing infant. Sadie Nash Leadership Project draws its name and inspiration from Sadie Nash and her impulse to take action, brush convention aside, and lead by example.

Our mission is to strengthen, empower and equip young women and gender-expansive youth of color to be agents of change in their lives and the world.

SNLP creates safe (emotionally, physically, and intellectually) educational spaces for young women and gender-expansive youth of color. We use the methodology of popular education to build community, critical consciousness, and college and career readiness for over 500 young people, ages 11 to 22, annually. Our participants (who call themselves Nashers) emerge from their Sadie Nash experience prepared to lead lives in committed pursuit of joy and liberation for themselves and their communities. Since our founding 20 years ago, we have built a community of over 10,000 Nashers in the five boroughs of New York City and Newark, NJ.

In Newark, SNLP offers the same high-impact leadership and siblinghood programs that we offer in New York City. These include our core summer and after-school programs (Summer Institute and Siblinghood Academy), our college readiness programs (Nash U, Leadership Scholars), and our full roster of supportive mental wellness programming. Sadie Nash Leadership Project has been embedded in Newark since 2008, making a long-term commitment to that community.

SNLP impact can be seen not only in the accomplishments of our alums, but also in their engagement with one another and the Sadie Nash community. Below is a testimonial from a past participant.

To be part of this Sadie Nash community, where everyone is openly talking about their lives, really helped me understand my identity better. It helped me clarify misconceptions that I had about myself as a woman. So it wasn’t just a learning experience—it was more like a collaborative learning experience.

More recently, surveys of our 2020-2021 participants have shown that:

• 91% feel confident in their leadership

• 94% feel inspired to attend college

• 93% better understand how to build community

• 92% have learned effective strategies for self-care

Our alums have gone on to earn law degrees from Harvard, NYU, and CUNY and social work degrees from Columbia and Smith. They have run for Congress and the New York State Assembly, and they have founded scholarships to support and uplift their peers. We’re inspired by the way Nashers step into leadership, both in our programs and beyond.

Sadie Nash is supported by a diverse portfolio of government, foundation, and corporate funders, in addition to individual donors, throughout the year. We recognize the importance of unrestricted funding and we hope that you can be a part of our growth and continued support.

Donations support the continued growth of our celebrated programs and our ongoing commitment to young women and gender-expansive youth of color. Our current initiatives include the integration of mental wellness and self-care into all aspects of our programming, and the creation of further opportunities for Nashers to develop as activists and community organizers. We are actively building and deepening partnerships with schools and community organizations that can support programs across New York and New Jersey.

Sadie Nash places young women and gender-expansive youth of color at the center of everything we do. Through programs that activate their creativity, exposure to innovative practitioners, and relationship-building with trusted mentors, Nashers develop their sense of personal power and confidence.

As a result of our unique approach, we are regularly recognized as leaders in our field. In 2021, we were one of five organizations chosen for a participatory, decolonial inquiry project on culturally responsive-sustaining education (CRSE), convened by NYU Metro Center with support from the Gates Foundation. Our work has been the subject of scholarly inquiry: Jomaira Salas Pujols, doctoral candidate at Rutgers and Assistant Professor at Bard College, and Tashal Brown, Assistant Professor at the University of Rhode Island, both published articles based on research and fieldwork in SNLP programs. We have also received numerous awards-- including:

-Brooklyn Community Foundation Spark Prize (2020)

-Diane von Furstenberg People’s Voice Award Finalist (2017)

-National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award presented by Former First Lady, Michelle Obama (2013)

-Excellence in Summer Learning Award from the National Summer Learning Association (2010)

-New York Times Gold Prize Winner for Overall Nonprofit Management Excellence (2010)

And we are proud to continue to develop our programs in alignment with our core values of racial and social justice, feminism, and youth leadership.

In our first twenty years, we built a community of over 10,000 young people–Nashers–who have grown as leaders while participating in our programs and continuing the work to make positive change in the world. As we celebrate our 20th anniversary, we are dedicated to our growth and to making an even greater impact in the future.

We will continue to be a space where Nashers can fully realize their leadership with joy and courage. We will continue to center and affirm young people working collaboratively toward transformative change and social justice. We will continue to support young people in recognizing their inherent capacity for leadership NOW, in their communities and beyond. We’re looking forward to the next twenty years–and the next 10,000 Nashers–as we expand our reach and build towards the future.