The long-term mission of our Silicon Valley Next program is to cultivate the pipeline of the next generation of nonprofit EDs, especially from BIPOC communities. I emphasize "long-term" because we are investing in people's lifelong development, and thus cannot guarantee immediate outcomes. I was overjoyed at the fact that our first SVN cohort of 12 has already produced 4 new BIPOC EDs - but was uncertain that we could sustain that kind of immediate success.

With that caveat, I'm thrilled to announce that our second SVN cohort (that just finished in March of this year) has already produced three new BIPOC EDs. Two started their new roles as EDs during the program. Just this week, we heard the following from a second Fellow, Ana Avenado:

"I wanted to share with you all my good news, now that it is official. I will be the new Executive Director for El Concilio of San Mateo County! El Concilio is a non-profit with roots in North Fair Oaks, Redwood City. It was founded in the 80's as an advocacy driven coalition of Latinx organizations to serve the Latinx community. Recently, they shifted because of funding and do more sustainability programs. But, I am excited to spearhead this historical organization and return to the advocacy, leadership and social service aspect of the mission. I am so excited and wanted to thank all of you for cheering me on. I posted the affirmations you all wrote about me on my wall and read them out before my interview! Thank you! Having the support of the SVN community in this process gave me confidence throughout the interview process. I leaned on my takeaways from the past year and felt ready for this challenge and opportunity. Knowing that I now have a network and social capital to build off of was also instrumental in my decision."

We're thrilled to play a role in the development of leaders like Ana!