Sadie Nash Leadership Project

Simply the best!

I sing their praises every year as I have watched the young women in action discussing issues with Coach Springer of Rutgers, Speaker Christine Quinn of the NYC Council, Tina Fey at the 10th anniversary fund raiser and at guest breakfasts during summer session. I have also housed a young Summer Institute dean and seen how the program impacted her and her continuing interest in her "girls" and other deans a year later.

Sadie Nash Leadership Project just goes from strength to strength. The NYC projects are thriving as is Newark NJ. The young women who go through this experience largely go on to good colleges and beyond, the majority becoming professionals, and they tend to stay involved in social justice causes. Many come back to Sadie Nash to teach or be a Summer Institute Dean. The bonds they form while there endure, creating a real network of strong women to help each other in ongoing ways for the long term. This is not just summer camp, this is life changing.

Long resistant to growing faster than than they can assure the quality of their programs, yet consistently asked to bring Sadie Nash to venues around the country, Cecelia and her team are now developing a model to train people in other cities in their methods. This will allow for independent sister programs around the country that are tailored to each city's specific areas of ethnic diversity and youth issues while not impacting the financial resources of the NYC area organization or the quality of its programs. The pilot for this out reach will probably be in Baltimore,

All this, and they still consistently waste the least amount of $ of any non profit out there. Check out the videos on young women who have graduated on their web site. You will be blown away.

Alida Morgan

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The best way to see Sadie Nash in action is to visit their web site and spend a few minutes watching the short videos of a sample of the graduates from the last 10 years. This was the 10th anniversary and the accomplishments of the young women, their devotion to their Sadie Nash experience and ongoing sisterhood with girls from their workshops, their continuing commitment to activism and leadership speak to the important work Sadie Nash does and to the success of their model. I had the pleasure of hosting a young Dean this summer and saw her growth and her passion for instilling a sense of self empowerment and of social justice in the young women she worked with. She was typical of the extraordinary young women who train to work with inner city girls and launch them into the world as articulate. strong women who stand up for themselves and work to better their communities. All the girls were committed to college and a life of improving their communities. I went to several special days, including a morning where young women from the Summer intensive discussed all levels of problems facing women, poverty, race, education, health and economic and political opportunity with NY City Council speaker Christine Quinn. The girls more than held their own. The same was true at the annual Garden Party fundraiser with the girls interviewing Tina Fey, the guest of honor, about women's issues and excelling in a man's world.NOBODY does this work better, more efficiently, or with better results.Sadie Nash Leadership project deserves all of it's accolades and deserves wider recognition and fundraising opportunities. Alida Morgan

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Every year I have attended Sadie Nash functions I have been more impressed by the staff and, more importantly, the girls in the program and the graduates who come back to tell their stories and share what they have learned and accomplished. Their enthusiasm, maturity, focus and eloquence are astonishing, often out shining the guest speakers. Seeing these supposedly marginalized young women bloom into strong, successful, committed people who are not just college bound, but pledged to giving back is an exhilarating example of the power of peer to peer efforts and represents our best hope for future generations of responsible citizen warriors for the well being of communities. I know of no other program that uses every penny they collect to fuller advantage for the young women in their programs, not to mention how few GIRL oriented projects there are out there. Ceceiia, her board and the staff are exceptional in every way. The passion, energy and integrity they imbue all aspects of Sadie Nash programs should be the paradigms for all non profits. Sincerely,Alida Morgan

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Sadie Nash, though a very small organization, is, baring none, the best program of it's kind I have ever run into. Working with an under served minority group of young women in Brooklyn and New Jersey, The Nash team works miracles.

Not a penny is wasted. Everything goes into the girls, giving them confidence, building character, developing their awareness and critical thinking so as to strengthen their voices, build their growing open minded, goal oriented selves and empowering them to become leaders in their communities and wherever the future takes them. The program does this by grooming the girls, and helping them take hold of the opportunities in their existing environment to act and inspire others for the greater good.

The equally small staff is wonderful..all about encouragement and straight talking discussion. No condescension ever. The young women going through the program blossom. Their individual accomplishments in the greater world speak for the Program's effectiveness.

Cecelia Clark and the Board have smartly stayed small, only growing into New Jersey in the last year. This is a very hands on program. It needs it's scale. I do hope, however, that over time, it will find itself able to grow into all 5 NYC bourroughs, as it is a program that should reach as many young women as possible.

I am proud to be a small part of making that happen for them and will continue to spread the word and support them.

Sincerely,

Alida W. Morgan

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Far and away one of the best non-profits I have ever seen in action. It is visionary in concept, and hands-on in terms of results -- and what results! Sadie Nash Leadership Project transforms the lives and futures of girls, and empowers them to lead productive, rewarding lives ... taking them on a voyage of discovering, recognizing and developing their talents and potential. This is truly an exceptional organization, of great merit.

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SNLP is an extraordinary organization that truly invests itself in its clientele. Their programs provoke genuine thinking, awareness and evaluation, and promote individual achievement and success ... it is rare to find an organization that makes such a measurable and lasting difference not only to the lives it touches, but in turn empowers young women to contribute to the lives of the families and communities that surround them. This is a unique opportunity, that delivers a unique result.

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I am convinced that the day that LeeAnn Fletcher called my house to say that I got off of the Sadie Nash waiting list is among the most life-path-altering days of my life. The most important concept I learned at Sadie Nash was that of safe space. At first, the idea of creating a safe space with a group of teenagers who I had never met before seemed ludicrous. I expected to be confronted with drama and rivalries and the general chaos I’d seen on “reality” tv shows. But we all gave communal safe space a chance because deep down, despite our doubts of its existence, I think we all desperately wanted it to be real.

Our efforts certainly paid off. As the summer progressed, we came to realize that a safe space wasn't a place where there were no judgments or opposing opinions. Rather, in our safe place we
acknowledged that judging is inevitable but what was most important was how we acted once our opinions were formed.

We learned to challenge ideas rather that the people who held them.

We became conscious of the fact that respecting other people’s points of view is what allows us to stop surviving and start living.

We created a safe space.

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I came to Sadie Nash as a dean in the summer of 2008 and I can without a doubt say that my experience there with those girls changed my life and like most volunteer work I got out of it much more than I put in. My experience there lead me to join the Peace Corps and find other ways to help people. Currently serving in the Peace Corps I am hosting a Girls Empowerment Camp in the middle of August...it is because of my work at Sadie Nash that I got selected to be a host.

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Sadie Nash Leadership Project helped me find who I am and who I want to be. It sparked my interest and made me want to do more for my community. I can not begin to explain the feeling I gained from meeting so many diverse women from all walks of life and learn that we all share common issues, feelings, and so much more then society leads us to believe . I will never forget PIP (a core class in the program) were we discussed our flower of power and other major social issues. In the flower petals we put our race, religion, gender ,citizen status, sexual orientation and other things about ourselves . Each week we discuss a different petal and issue. Each week I realized who in society really had poweror an advantage just because they were born or choose to be a certain. I wanted this to change so did the other girls in my class. Over all Sadie Nash gave me hope that change is possible. I felt like I could be a leader and I'm not alone in my fight for social change . Sadie Nash was a program that I am thankful for being apart of and looking forward to going back to.

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This organization really helps girls understand that they are lots more than just "what they look like" (which is the message our culture seems to send, as their most important quality). SNLP participants are confident, and able to act on that confidence in any number of settings. They are quite impressive!!

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SNLP was probably one of the most formative experiences of my post-graduate life. As a Duke graduate with a degree in Women's Studies and Sociology and a passion for social change, finding this organization was truly a blessing! As a Dean I was responsible for the close supervision and mentoring of a small group of young women, supporting their growth directly during short sessions three days a week and indirectly throughout their time in the program. Additionally, I acted as a co-teacher for one of the core programmatic courses: Power, Identity and Privilege. I supported my faculty member in creating and executing innovative and engaging curriculum that challenged our students to critically examine inequalities that exist, and understand how we can be allies and/or speak from our experiences of oppression o fight for a better world. I learned as much as the participants that summer. Every young woman should have the opportunity to participate in a program like this one!

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Sadie Nash does incredible work putting true feminism into action. It empowers young women to be leaders and make a difference in their communities. As a former teacher with the organization, I was impressed with the projects the "Nashers" took on successfully. Great work!

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I started a non-profit in honor of the service by a philanthropist in my community named Thomas Colson Woody; T. Colson Woody was born and lived in Orange, New Jersey. He attended the Orange Public Schools and, except for his attendance at Virginia State College and New York University, he lived in Orange for his entire life. He was proprietor of the Woody Home for Services, a funeral home in Orange on Oakwood Avenue. Colson (as he was called), took over the funeral business started by his mother, Mary Colson Woody, whose business was located on Central Place. Mrs. Woody was the first female funeral director in the State of New Jersey.

Because the nature of the funeral business, Colson worked 24 hours a day, seven days per week (24/7) as a businessman in Orange, he contributed to a long list of causes. He even helped young businessmen studying for the mortuary business, helping them to set up businesses even if it meant competition. He was active in the Oakwood Branch of the YMCA, Boy Scouts, NAACP, and the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity. Additionally, he served on the Orange Planning Board and the Orange Board of Education.

He lived an exemplary life in Orange and this city is better for his having contributions to his life here.

The Mission of TCW is TCW is a non-profit organization based in Orange NJ. The TCW Orange Community Foundation is a not-for-profit organization committed to providing funding efforts that will enhance educational and community initiatives that best serve to improve the quality of life for the residents within the City of Orange Township, NJ.
The Foundation works to accomplish this mission in the following ways:
1. By supporting Community development efforts, which serve to enhance the quality of life for all residents;
2. By enhancing educational opportunities through the creation and/or funding of specific academic programs;
3. And by supporting the efforts of affiliate organizations seeking to build a strong and healthy Orange community

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Sadie Nash time and again finds exceptional people to work for them, and to lead the young women in deep self transformation. Parents of Sadie Nash participants are blown away by the growth they witness in their young women, as they develop their critical thinking and leadership skills. I also deeply respect and learn from Sadie Nash's holistic approach to social justice. I think it should be implemented in organizations across the country.
Sadie Nash Leadership Project is the best place on earth

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