The Black Leadership Institute (BLI) connects, inspires, and uplifts senior-level Black leaders shaping social impact across the country and across sectors. Through transformative programming, BLI supports Black leaders with the resources, network, and community to build upon their social, financial, knowledge, and cultural capital as they step into positions of greater power and influence.

A unique and transformative 18-month program, BLI brings together a national cohort of Black leaders in senior roles across the nonprofit, philanthropic, public, and private sectors who are leading in fields, or on issues, with significant outcome disparities for Black people ? such as workforce development, incarceration and recidivism, health care and well-being, environmental justice, poverty, and education ? for an eighteen-month fellowship program.

Now in its third year, the BLI program will launch its next cohort in January 2025, serving 35 senior-level Black leaders from seven cities across the country. The program will connect Fellows both nationally and locally, allowing them to develop strong regional and national bonds of shared commitment, support, and purpose.

The program includes:
– Eighteen months of programming, including twelve months of in-person regional convenings and virtual sessions with the full national cohort, followed by six months of individual, virtual executive coaching.
– Two in-person retreats in locations of significance to the Black experience in the US and to the growth of Black power and influence into the future.
– Sessions that anchor on critical topics that enable Black leaders to identify and implement new strategies for building greater power and influence in their communities.
– Fellows will explore multiple forms of power, currency, and exchange through the lenses of social, financial, knowledge, and cultural capital.
– A focus on cultivating joy and renewal through a pedagogy grounded in deep personal connection, community building, mindfulness, well-being, and the intersection of self-awareness and leadership.
– A building and strengthening of local and national cross-sector networks.