Black Achievers has landed its largest grant ever — $150,000 from Greater Cincinnati Foundation.
Black Achievers, founded in 2018 by Michael R. Moore, is one of the largest Black professional organizations in Ohio. With over 4,000 members in Cincinnati and over 30,000 members nationwide, the organization’s mission is to connect, educate and economically empower its members.
The two-year grant will help Black Achievers create a leadership academy and workforce training program to help Black women obtain upward economic mobility.
“Once I saw the statistic that nearly 35% of Black women with a college degree earn less than $15 per hour, I knew we had to do something,” said Moore, the organization’s president. “Our team will help provide the training, support and network connections to help women in the Black Achievers network obtain the skills needed to obtain higher paying careers.”
A Greater Cincinnati Foundation grant follows a $50,000 grant Black Achievers received late last summer from Bank of America Charitable Foundation to launch chapters in Cleveland in Columbus. Since its founding, Black Achievers funding has now reached $500,000.
While working as an information technology project manager at Fifth Third Bank, West Side native Michael Moore started Black Achievers primarily as a way to connect diverse talent to employers. Moore is an Elder graduate who wants to replicate the power of the Elder network for Black professionals. He hopes to grow his organization from its current 30,000 members nationally to 1 million members in 100 cities. Memberships range from $29 per year for students to $149 per year for business owners.
Taking Greater Cincinnati Foundation’s lead in supporting Black women, Black Achievers has created a leadership academy for Black women. It will equip women leaders with actionable strategies to overcome the hurdles women often face in the workplace. It will offer an immersive leadership development experience designed to drive results and accelerate the advancement of Black women. It will offer eight week-long sessions of networking, team-building activities and in-depth programming to be successful in their career. Sessions will include workshops, discussion groups and classroom-style learning.
Research has shown that many Black women feel isolated, alone and unsupported in their careers, especially as they try to move up in an organization. There are documented barriers that hold Black employees, especially Black women, back from reaching management and upper-level positions.
According to USA Today, Black women are less likely than their white coworkers to have a sponsor from upper management. Even worse, many Black women do not know that they need a sponsor to help navigate their career or how to go about getting one. Obtaining mentorship and sponsorship is a skill that has to be taught, not something that can be left to chance encounters in order to be impactful for Black women.
Many existing leadership programs cost thousands of dollars and are not feasible for young professionals just starting out in their careers.
Applications for Black Achiever’s first leadership academy for Black women are now being accepted here: https://www.blackachievers.com/leadershipacademy