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The one-day event brings together executives, senior leaders, directors, and managers from across California's nonprofit sector for a slate of networking, professional development, and collective healing.

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 25, 2026 /PRNewswire-ÌÇÐÄVlog/ -- , a Los Angeles nonprofit dedicated to empowering girls and young women in marginalized communities, will bring back its long-awaited on Thursday, September 3, 2026 in Alhambra, Calif.

The one-day event brings together executives, senior leaders, directors, and managers from across California's nonprofit sector for a slate of networking, professional development, and collective healing.

More About the Forum

This year's theme, "Rooted in Purpose and Called to Rise," speaks to the urgency facing Black women nonprofit leaders at a moment when diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives are under sustained political attack and black-led nonprofit organizations are confronted with tremendous funding disparities.

The Black Women Nonprofit Leaders Forum is designed to:

• Provide a safe, healing space for Black women nonprofit leaders to develop sisterhood and explore the trauma of misogynoir;
• Offer a trauma-informed, restorative-justice approach to networking, empowerment, and professional development;
• Advance the conversation on promising practices for nonprofit boards and hiring executives to support, uplift, and sustain Black women's leadership.

The day includes a keynote address from activist, advocate, author, and founder of the #MeToo movement Tarana J. Burke. Author, playwright, filmmaker, former international award-winning journalist, and CEO of The Armah Institute of Emotional Justice, Esther A. Armah, will serve as morning plenary speaker.

Event Details

• What: Black Women Nonprofit Leaders Forum
• Theme: Rooted in Purpose and Called to Rise
• When: Thursday, September 3, 2026, 8:15 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.
• Where: Almansor Court, 700 S Almansor Street, Alhambra, CA 91801
• Tickets and Scholarship Info:
• Event Sponsors: Weingart Foundation, JP Morgan Chase and CA Black Women's Collective Empowerment Institute

Why Now

The forum arrives amid mounting evidence of the compounding professional and economic pressures facing Black women in the nonprofit sector:

• More than 600,000 Black women have been pushed out of the workforce since January 2025 — including 266,000 who lost jobs between February and March alone amid federal DOGE cuts — with the unemployment rate for Black women climbing to 7.3% by early 2026 (Bureau of Labor Statistics; The 19th, July 2025).
• On average, only half of Black-led nonprofits receive a foundation grant, compared to 70% of white-led nonprofits — and funding increases following 2020 were largely temporary, flowing mainly to larger organizations before declining again by 2023 (Candid and ABFE – A Philanthropic Partnership for Black Communities, 2026).
• 80% of California's Black-led and Black-empowering nonprofits report their current staffing isn't sufficient to meet community needs — and while 95% call paying a living wage a top priority, only 28% can currently do so for all staff (Nonprofit Finance Fund and Black Equity Collective, 2025).
• Anti-Black misogyny accumulates across Black women's lives — from childhood classrooms through professional workplaces — producing what researchers term "gendered Racial Battle Fatigue," a cumulative toll on psychological and physical well-being (International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 2026).
• 59% of Black women nonprofit employees say race and/or gender negatively impacted their career advancement — the highest share of any group of women or men of color — citing lower pay, being overlooked for promotions, lack of mentorship, and being stereotyped as "angry" (Race to Lead Surveys, Building Movement Project, 2019).

"At a time when grassroots nonprofit organizations are facing new barriers in serving their communities and diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts are being demonized, this type of program is deeply necessary," said Dawn L. Brown, President and CEO of EmpowHer Institute. "I created the Black Women Nonprofit Leaders Forum as a love letter to the women in our communities who get up every day and pour their hearts into making life better for those who have been marginalized and ignored. Women who have sacrificed more than you can imagine for the sake of others. They receive little support, but somehow make magic. The forum is designed to provide a brave space to convene, network, grow professionally, heal from the trauma of misogynoir, and most importantly celebrate their magic."

About EmpowHer Institute

EmpowHer Institute is a gender-responsive nonprofit utilizing a whole-child approach to provide social-emotional learning, mentoring, STEAM education, leadership development, and skills-based programming for girls ages 11–18 in under-resourced communities across Los Angeles County. EmpowHer serves 1,000+ girls enrolled in Title 1 schools annually through culturally inclusive, trauma-informed, immersive learning programs aimed at breaking generational cycles of poverty through college and career readiness. Learn more at .

Media Contact

POV Agency, On behalf of EmpowHer Institute, 1 6197576392, [email protected],  

SOURCE EmpowHer Institute