BHS Day 8: National Coalition of 100 Black Women

Hi! Kicking off the second week of this year's series, I wanted to put the spotlight on the female counterpart to an organization I featured back during the first BHS. I featured 100 Black Men for its dedication to bettering the lives of Black men in the US and I've been wanting to feature its female counterpart but wasn't able to get around to it until this year. I think this organization deserves more hype, more recognition, and more chapters across the country. It has similar goals to its counterpart but for WOC, and the world needs more resources like today's entrant. 

Name: National Coalition of 100 Black Women

Date of establishment and founders: Unofficially, Winter 1970; nationally, October 1981 by Edna Beach and a group of 23 Black women

Purpose of organization: A multitude of things but the most important would be to serve as a collective voice for Black women across the country with issues most important to them and a vehicle for women to achieve their goals, all of which are meant to drive and encourage beneficial changes

Why is the Spotlight on it today? For its dedication to the positive advancement of Black women professionally, personally and economically

Notables and accolades:
--was modeled after the 100 Black Men, a successful non-profit organization dedicated to the betterment of Black men across the country
--has over 60 chapters in 28 states and thousands of members
--now includes and allows other women of color
--created the now-defunct Civil Institute for Women of Color, which was a program that highlighted four groups of color and sought to empower and lead the women involved by giving them leadership training and developing new leadership models
--a few of the other previous programs created by the organization were geared to support free South African elections, opening dialogue on health issues in the Black community, addressing gender issues on a number of topics, targeting at-risk and low-income individuals in order to teach teens and their families about developing their skill sets and building leadership standards
--awards the Candace Women of Achievement Awards to a woman of color who has significantly contributed or given back to her local community
--is the host of the S.T.E.A.M. program, which is a five-subject intensive learning program that helps middle-school girls learn about the importance of each subject (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) in an effort to encourage more participation from women of color in the typically male-dominated fields
--the Advocacy category of the organization focuses on five areas--health, education, economic empowerment, strategic alliances and civic engagement, with several goal markers for each area
--co-hosted the Association for Enterprise Opportunity's Inclusion is the New Currency: Access to  Capital Small Business Forum event, which was geared to minority women in the microbusiness and microfinance industries

Further reading links: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4

Quote of the Day:
"No longer can Black women operate on the basis of reacting to crises and depending on crash programs to solve them.  They know, as they have in the past, that they must understand and direct present trends and become aware of the new economic and social realities that are emerging. Seeking empowerment as a distinct group, they need to analyze their attitudes about power and understand both the traditional and unconventional routes to power.  Most importantly, Black women are the linchpin of leadership continuity among all Black people and understand the need for mentoring that must be nurtured and honed day by day, from one generation to another."