Black women and gender-expansive leaders continue to be at the forefront of innovation, movement-building, bold leadership, and strategy across the Washington D.C. metropolitan area and the county. Yet at the same time, Black women leaders are operating in unprecedented times with mounting barriers and challenges to their leadership – driven by systemic inequities deeply embedded in sectors and systems.
Prompted by the ongoing national dialogue around Black women’s leadership and the unsettling stories about the sector’s failure to adequately support Black women as they lead across the city and surrounding counties, the Washington Area Women’s Foundation stepped in to fill this gap and bolster the leadership of Black women and Black gender-expansive leaders in the region.