We want to champion success for Black girls and women!
We want to reduce barriers and provide additional support to ensure success!
Our Vision
For each of us to have enough
Our Mission
To support projects that build confidence, capacity and opportunity for Black girls and women
The Nia Project will work to change the perception, outcomes and norms for Black girls and women in our community and in our country.
| OUR STORY “There is often a saying that solutions to problems are found by people who can see out of more than one eye. And it is black women who are able to see out of their blackness, out of their womenness, often out of their poverty and sometimes out of their privilege. So I believe it is going to be a black woman who will find the answers to many of the problems we face today.” – Dr. Johnetta B. Cole |
The Nia Project is the culmination of our experience and continued passion to address intractable issues facing girls and women. Through the Nia Project, we will offer programming, partner with and financially support organizations committed to the work of uplifting and improving opportunity for Black girls and women.
Trace Warren and I co-founded Trace’s Place – A Community Resource for Girls and Women in 2000. A year prior we started a mentoring program called My Sister’s Keeper (MSK). We changed the name to Trace’s Place, because our ultimate goal was to open a home for girls. A safe place to live, go to school and be provided all of the necessary supports. Robin Anderson was a mentor and Robin Jones was a supporter. We ran MSK for more than 15 years. We all worked full time, raised our families and along with many other volunteers, poured our hearts and souls into mentoring and personal development work for these girls. At some point along the way, we realized that although we were making a difference, the work was only scratching the surface and the challenges facing girls, and quite frankly their families were more than we had the capacity or resources to resolve.
Fast forward to 2020 and the launch of The Nia Project! The Nia Project puts a twist on traditional programs and services. Nia Projects are broken up into smaller chunks, with specific beginning and end dates. This allows us to be nimble and flexible and pivot to where the need is. The Nia Project places high value on volunteerism and community engagement.
Through Nia Projects, we will use community might, to address community concern.
This is our story and through the work of this organization we will strive to have an impact and add value to the lives of girls and women in our community.
The Nia Project, in many ways, is Part II of the work that has gone unfinished.
