Board Member
| Our board | Yleana is different from a lot of other organizations because we’re still in growth mode - we had to pivot hard during the pandemic, and have emerged stronger for it, but as a result are still figuring things out for the first time. Being part of an Yleana board means helping answer those first-time questions and having a say in the future of the organization; you’ll be asked for your opinion and we will take you up on offers you make. It is a chance to get your hands dirty and interact with kids directly; a chance to introduce new directions for the organization. We consider ourselves to be a close-knit, loving, informal, hard-working bunch who care deeply - about having an impact on real people’s lives; about changing the wealth distribution in the US; about having an effect on our children who are the future; and about shining the spotlight on what is the best about each other. |
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| Position | We pride ourselves on having a Board where members truly value each other’s contributions and honor each other’s strengths, where members look forward to meetings rather than seeing them as a nuisance in their calendar. We want people who are looking to make a substantive, tangible impact on the racial wealth gap, sending kids of color to college, and getting them THROUGH college. We are not limiting our search to any particular professional field - we are looking for people who are passionate and willing to turn that passion into action. |
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| Desired skills *required |
Accounting, Board, Branding, Business Development, Coaching, Communications, Data Analysis, Digital Marketing, Diversity/Inclusion, Engineering, Entrepreneurship, Event Management, Facilities, Finance, Fundraising, Grants, Graphic Design, Human Resources, Information Technology, Legal, Management, Marketing, Multimedia, Project Management, Public Relations, Research, Social Media, Strategy Consulting, Web Design, Web Development |
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| When | Online |
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| Where | Online |
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| Commitment | 1 to 3 hours/month |
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| Donation | Organization requires a specific amount of “give or get” for all board members. |
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| Requirements | As our programs expand and as we partner with more school districts, schools, and CBOs, we are expanding our fundraising capacity as well as donor network. Therefore, we are looking for members who are committed to both holding fiduciary responsibility for the organization as well as serving as both ambassador and connector by promoting Yleana’s mission, connecting like-minded individuals with our organization, and serving as mentors to our students through our College to Career Transition Mentorship program. Ideally, we would like to have each partner city (Baltimore, Boston, NYC, and Philadelphia) have 2 - 3 representatives on our board. |
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| Additional Info | Our Mission: The Yleana Leadership Foundation sees the US’s racial wealth gap (economic/wealth accumulation) as a consequence of the opportunity gap (education). Our mission is to decrease the opportunity gap in order to decrease the racial wealth gap - by making sure students have access to the best resources possible as they enter college, we will change their economic position and ability to accumulate wealth as adults. Our population is 95% BIPOC, primarily Black and Latinx, with an average family income of $32,829. We partner with high schools and CBOs in Baltimore, Boston/North Shore MA, NYC, and Philadelphia. We are emphatically a non-creaming organization, meaning our actions are directed at slow, incremental change in the thick middle of the curve. By increasing the selectivity of the colleges our students attend, we: [1] Increase college graduation rates and access to more supportive programming [2] Secure better financial aid packages and decrease loans, allowing students to start life with less debt [3] Increase salaries after graduation - double and triple what students would have made after a less selective college We also provide ongoing support to our students TO and THROUGH college: We ensure they have the support they need to get into college, persist through college and transition successfully into a career - with the aid of the following programs: [1] College Access Mentoring [2] College Success (Persistence) Mentoring [3] College-to-Career Transitional Mentoring [4] Job/internship Database [5] Safety net: Once you’re part of the Yleana family, you’re family forever - we’re here for you, whatever you need! Our work moves the normal college graduation rate from 11% (college grad rate for low-SES, first-gen students) to 80% (college grad rate for Yleana students). Doubling or tripling graduation rates and cutting student loans in half/getting rid of them completely means Yleana has a discrete economic impact on students’ financial outcomes and ability to accumulate wealth. — We multiply the college graduation rate by almost 8, meaning that we are taking the number of low-SES, first-gen students who can benefit from the $1M increase in lifetime earnings that comes with a college degree - and MULTIPLYING THAT NUMBER BY 8. — Through this series of intentional college-related financial decisions and support through college, we are incrementally moving the middle of the economic curve - which has the power to ultimately move the center of the US economic pyramid, for the longest-ranging and broadest impact on the income distribution of the United States. Theory of Change: ACTION: Increasing college selectivity changes the following (by orders of magnitude) higher graduation rates significantly better financial aid packages higher salary outcomes OUTCOME: Students’ college outcomes yield better financial outcomes/enable wealth accumulation (by orders of magnitude) higher earnings less debt/avoid poverty live longer and healthier lives How Do We Execute It? SAT score increase: We increase the selectivity of the colleges our students attend, in order to: [1] Increase persistence and graduation rates and access more supportive programming so students make it to college graduation [2] Secure better financial aid packages and decrease loans, allowing students to start life with less debt [3] Increase salaries after graduation - double and triple what students would have made after a less selective college Ongoing Family Support: We also make sure they have the support they need to get into college, persist through college and transition successfully into a career - with the aid of the following programs: [1] College Access Mentoring [2] College Success (Persistence) Mentoring [3] College-to-Career Transitional Mentoring [4] Job/internship Database [5] Safety net: Once you’re part of the Yleana family, you’re family forever - we’re here for you, whatever you need! |
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| Our mission | The Yleana Leadership Foundation exists to fight the cycle of entrenched poverty – which necessitates breaking the correlation between race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status. |
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| Causes |
Children, Education, Poverty, Social Justice & Equality
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