Convenings, Gatherings & Forums that Connect Black Leaders. Our events encourage everyone in the community to share a role in improving the lives of African Americans. Our COVID-19/Black MN virtual town hall, Black Life Amplified, is keeping the African American community informed about the impacts of the public health crisis. We’re also reshaping the narrative specific to African American lives, Black leadership, and the Black experience with our weekly podcast: Black Leadership Re-Defined.

Collective Impact Initiative: A Black-Centered Approach to Empowering Our Community: Our Collective Impact initiative consists of a Task Force and Workstreams (fellows from our Leadership Academy) who work to tackle our community’s most pressing challenges of Economic Development, Health/Wellness, Family/ Culture, and Education. Using principles of Human-Centered Design (HCD), along with an emerging methodology called Black-Centered Design (BCD), these African American thought leaders and social innovators are bringing impactful change to the Black community.

The Josie R. Johnson Leadership Academy: The Leadership Academy is a continuous hands-on path to personal and professional discovery directed by facilitators, mentors, developmental tools, and experiential learning opportunities. Each fellow builds a pathway for defining their purpose in the Academy. The skills developed through this program serve as a launching pad for exercising leadership in Collective Impact projects. The overall goal of the Academy is to accelerate the leadership development journey of emerging African American leaders.