We partner with nonprofit executives of color. We empower them through a collaborative growth process that includes personalized executive coaching, and socially and culturally tailored technical assistance, and we join forces with funders for greater impact in creating racial wealth equity.

Reporting to the President and CEO, as a new executive-level position, I have generated and implemented innovative solutions to ending hunger and poverty in the U.S. and abroad, focused on the root causes of poverty. At Share Our Strength, we are aware of the many ways that injustice impacts our staff and partners in the field, and we recognize the systemic connections between poverty, racism, and hunger. We believe we have an imperative to leverage our program strategy and initiatives to confront and address the systemic issues that lead to hunger. We know the work of equity and inclusion in a diverse organization is fundamental to our ability to have an impact, our health, and our strength as an organization.

Build the Next Generation of LeadersIn this time of rising hate and extreme partisanship, we believe our nation’s next generation of community leaders and problem-solvers would greatly benefit from the opportunity to refine and hone their leadership skills while building relationships across the issue areas and movements from which they come. The Aspen Institute launched the Civil Society Fellowship to address this need.The Civil Society Fellowship is modeled on the Henry Crown Fellowship, the premier leadership development program at the Aspen Institute that moves leaders from “success to significance.” The Civil Society Fellowship builds on the Henry Crown approach of recruiting a “mosaic” of participants that represent the breadth of our country’s diversity and commit them to intense introspection and dialog. Each emerging Civil Society Fellowship class of leaders will have the opportunity to engage with one another through experiential learning and informed dialogue, building trust based on shared insights and mutual respect.

Lillian Singh, Prosperity Now’s Vice President of Racial Wealth Equity, worked to launch the Racial Wealth Divide Initiative at Prosperity Now in 2015. She provides strategic oversight for the deployment of three primary strategies, leading a team focused on: 1) strengthening all of Prosperity Now's programs’ ability to address racial wealth inequality and develop stronger analysis of asset poverty in communities of color; 2) launching and implementing specific projects that highlight best practices in bridging racial wealth inequality working in collaboration with local and regional organizations; and 3) elevating Prosperity Now and its partners as influential voices that drive policy solutions to tackling racial economic inequality at the national, state and local levels.In partnership with her team, her work focuses on strengthening the executive leadership and organizational capacity of nonprofit organizations in over a dozen cities. Specifically, working to find solutions to the problem of growing economic inequality including income gaps, gentrification, unemployment, underemployment and affordable housing. In addition, Mrs. Singh provides financial planning, coaching and wealth management guidance to individual families as a licensed securities and investment representative and uses these lessons and practices to inform the project development and implementation work at Prosperity Now.

Lillian Singh is Director of the Racial Wealth Divide Initiative at Prosperity Now, leading her team as they partner with executive leadership at nonprofit organizations in over a dozen metropolitan cities. Her work focuses on finding solutions to the problem of growing economic inequality including income gaps, gentrification, unemployment, underemployment and affordable housing. In addition, Mrs. Singh provides financial planning, coaching and wealth management guidance to individual families as a licensed securities and investment representative and uses these lessons and practices to inform the project development and implementation work at Prosperity Now. Mrs. Singh began her career as a researcher for Child Trends, a leading nonprofit research firm in the District of Columbia focused on improving the well-being of children, youth and families. She then transitioned to a career in social economic justice at the NAACP, where she served as the Senior Research Associate for Programs and then was promoted to Director of Strategic Partnerships of the Economic Department. During her six and a half years working at the nation’s oldest civil rights organization, Mrs. Singh directed alliances with external allies across the corporate, private, government and nonprofit sectors, where she oversaw economic education initiatives focused on grassroots organizing and grasstops engagement, connecting NAACP state and local affiliates with corporate, private and national nonprofit partners. Mrs. Singh holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Urban Planning and a Master of Arts degree in Sociology, both from Stanford University.

As Associate Director of the Racial Wealth Divide Project at CFED, she will work with the Racial Wealth Divide team to strengthen CFED’s outreach and partnership with communities of color and advance CFED’s racial wealth divide analysis.

Ensures the sustainability of the department through programmatic and performance monitoring, grant and funding oversight, and managing strategic alliances between the NAACP and major corporations, foundations, non-profits, and governmental agencies. Program Management:•Directs Economic Education program initiatives – focused on grassroots organizing and grasstops engagement – connecting NAACP state and local affiliates with corporate, private, and national nonprofit partners.• Directs three Community Economic Development program initiatives, that promotes asset development in low-to-moderate income African American communities across the country.• Manages the flow of information with an emphasis on program delivery and project monitoring. • Manage the NAACP’s national information sharing systems to increase efficiency and collaboration with state and local leaders engaged in economic issues.• Structures and lead the annual strategic planning process.• Develops and manages contracts & memorandums of understanding with consultants and partners. Partnership & Resource Management: • Responsible for developing relationships with external allies cross the corporate, private, government and nonprofit sectors - to advance economic advocacy goals.• Spearheads fundraising efforts, including grant proposals, competitive grant competitions, to secure the annual revenue budget.• Engaged in raising and managing over 13 million dollars to support the programmatic activities of the economic department over the last five years.Programmatic & Performance Monitoring: • Monitors grants performance in terms of timelines and objectives, funds expended and compliance with grant agreements.• Creates specific, quantifiable and measurable outcomes for and manages the evaluative process to determine if outcomes are being met; need revision; or modification of timelines.• Directly manages internal data tracking and grant deliverables to develop impact reports.

Provided strategic research direction and support to NAACP Program Directors to undergird their program area research agendas. Support the NAACP Development department with research used for writing grant proposals and support the NAACP Communication Department with research used in press releases, for talking points, and multi-media campaigns. Research: •Performed analysis of unemployment data and researched the transparency of employment opportunities made available on the Federal One-Stop-Career Centers. •Monitored funding streams made available through the American Recovery Act. •Elevated business opportunities for Minority and Small Businesses Enterprises, as well as, employment opportunities in the green economy. •Revamped all program area research fact sheets – available on NAACP website. •Supported the Implementation and redesign of the NAACP Corporate Fairness Scorecard – (Formerly the Economic Reciprocity Report Card) and spearheaded the construction of the outcomes scoring metric and survey redesign. •Spearheaded the development of the NAACP Jobs and Contract Online Portal.

Worked with senior leaders in the company to conceptualize, manage and implement all research-related consulting activities in the organization. Assisted the CEO in developing and implementing various strategic research initiatives that contribute to the long-term development of the company’s intellectual capital and wealth. Writing and Research: •Managed over five consulting projects funded by government agencies, foundations, and non-for-profit organizations simultaneously. •Managed and directed the strategic research team in its analysis of critical industry-wide problems using qualitative and quantitative research tools to develop best practices by which to meet client deliverable needs and expectations through a research-focus and best-practice lens. •Worked with other team consultants in the conception and production of proactive strategic research studies and managed the project deliverables to exceed client expectations and to support existing services and programs. •Designed the development of user-friendly “how-to-guides,” training manuals, articles, and issues briefs all published on the Symphonic Circle website. Organizational Capacity Building: •Partnered with local and national organizations to establish their infrastructure for internal outcomes monitoring and quality assessments. •Developed tools and templates on program evaluation and other technical assistance resources to improve the performance of service provider agencies. •Created curriculum for Symphonic Strategies Institute Fellows (8 organizations) on program evaluation. Facilitated sessions with program staff to define their organizational objectives, developed program ecosystem maps, created theory of change and logic models, designed program quality assessment tools, and implemented outcomes monitoring and process evaluation data collection instruments.

While at Child Trends as a research analyst I did research that informed policy and program decisions for non-profits working on improving the conditions that affect the developmental outcomes of children and families. Some highlights include:•providing evaluation support for the Entering the College Zone (ECZ) program, coordinated by the National Black Child Development Institute located in Washington DC. I served as Project Manager for the program evaluation, which examined changes in academic attitudes, motivations, college plans and school grades among students participating in the ECZ program. I guided the coordination of the non-experimental longitudinal outcomes monitoring study that followed 8th grade students who attended the Entering the College Zone workshop event in Greensboro, NC between 2005 and 2008. •writing a number of research briefs on out-of-school time best practices for the Atlantic Philanthropies Research-to-Results Initiative (an initiative focused on disseminating information from direct-service providers, researchers, media professionals, and others on best practices for youth development). I conducted interviews with front-line practitioners to uncover best practices on program evaluation and youth engagement in out-of-school time programs. In addition, I coordinated roundtable discussions with non-profit leaders and youth to learn “what works” in program implementation, with the goal of improving policies and ultimately youth outcomes.

My passion to improve the conditions and outcomes for disadvantaged children, families, and communities has driven my career choices and job placements. In my position working for the DC Children Youth Investment Trust Corporation (CYITC), a public charity agency responsible for funding after-school programs in the District of Columbia, I assisted the Director of Programs and Development with organizational fundraising development and I conducted a comprehensive proposal review and assessment of potential CYITC grantees proposal.