March 5, 2024

Our community needs a different kind of leader – NOW – people with the same challenges we face on a daily basis. New Leaders Council believes that to create the equitable country we aspire to be, we must build power among the leaders closest to their communities’ lived experiences. These leaders do not remain complacent in a world full of injustice and inequality and, although they have immense potential, they have been historically excluded from leadership pipelines. These leaders are the people who change the world! These leaders are NLC!

NLC Fellows and alumni are the kind of people our world needs: those committed to promoting inclusion, diversity, and equity; those who center their values; those who work collaboratively with diverse groups of people. They engage, inspire, and motivate others. They are a new kind of leader.

In 2023, NLC’s Programs and Operations team expanded its procedures to create deeper and more intentional support for volunteers and alumni in chapters all across the country. Support came in the form of better financial tracking, improved resources for chapter boards to run the NLC Institute, one-on-one conversations that supported chapters in local board management, and streamlining a variety of processes to increase sustainability.

In 2023 NLC HQ also prioritized rest and denounced systemically oppressive hustle culture by shifting our programs to meet chapters at their level of capacity. The unofficial theme for the Programs and Operations team for the year was “go small, to grow big”. We made the strategic decision to create new categories for chapters, including energize (chapters in a year of rebuilding) and legacy (chapters with alumni, but no active board)*.

The NLC Programs and Operations team is excited to continue building programs and systems that put our leaders first. We thank our amazing volunteers, alumni, and supporters who continue to give their time and resources to further NLC’s mission. With the problems our country faces, our community doesn’t have the luxury of waiting for one type of leader – some hero – to save us. So we stopped waiting for a hero, and we built a movement.

Together we will continue to build a new kind of leadership.

March 5, 2024

New Leaders Council Fellows and alumni are amazing and brilliant leaders, and I’m grateful to have met so many of them during my NLC journey. As a 2013 NLC Atlanta Fellow who became Finance Co-Chair of my chapter, a Convention speaker, and most recently Vice Chair of NLC’s National Board of Directors, I’ve been able to learn, serve and develop in so many ways.

Today, I am taking all of those lessons with me as I continue to advance the mission of our organization as NLC’s first alumni, first woman, and first Black woman to serve as the National Board Chair. We acknowledge through 2023, that never before have we had such a ripe opportunity to make an impact through NLC and we are moving forward in growing our network with a bold, bright vision.

As I reflect on the state of our country and our future, I also remember that locally and across the country, NLC alumni are on the frontlines strategizing and implementing solutions to ensure gender-affirming health care; voter access; the work of diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility; and environmental justice.

As they have been in previous years, NLC alumni were everywhere, advancing progress in every industry and issue-area across the country in 2023.

Our model is deep-rooted as a community leadership movement and we know it’s not about lifting up the singular, charismatic individual, but the work of each of us that ensures a world with opportunity for all. As the new NLC Board Chair, I look forward to our continued collective impact.

March 5, 2024

New Leaders Council (“NLC”) is on the cutting edge of shaping democracy and bringing a new kind of leadership to communities all across the country. We train the people who change the world!

2023 marked another year of intentional, strategic growth for NLC. In my fourth year as President and CEO, I am excited to report that we continue to invest in building the infrastructure and professional scaffolding that is allowing us to increase support for our Fellows and alumni networks for increased impact nationwide. The work we do in NLC is needed now more than ever because our community’s challenges are wider and deeper than the current civic leadership pipelines can reach, especially as our rights and freedoms continue to be stripped away. Now is the time for radical collaboration!

In 2023, NLC focused its efforts on continuing to cultivate ecosystems that collaborate for change, and serve as the connective network and infrastructure that spans different types of civic missions and leaders. I am proud to say that 2023 also laid the foundation for a new era in NLC, with the welcoming of a new National Board Chair, Candace Stanciel (NLC ATL ‘13), first alumni, first woman, and first Black woman to hold the position.

New Leaders Council alumni are in every room, across every corner of our country. In state capitals, leading their own organizations, opening doors wide for their communities, and building spaces that haven’t been designed yet. With over 18 years of training and connecting leaders in cross-sector industries, New Leaders Council has built a movement of proximate leaders that center equity and create positive impact in local communities across the country. For this year’s Annual Report, we reflect back on how NLC continues to advocate for change where change is needed.