Annual
Report
2023
919-229-9142 hello@profoundladies.org ProfoundLadies.org
PROFOUND LADIES ANNUAL REPORT 2023
Our Value
Amid an ever-increasing culture war and public attacks on communities of color, a space of respite, psychological safety, and affirmation is needed now more than ever. Our unwavering commitment to serve Black, Indigenous Women of Color as they lead boldly continues to push us to new heights, innovation, and responsiveness to the needs of our communities. We’ve had such tremendous success and growth, and we owe it to you all for your support. Over the past year, our membership has grown leaps and bounds. We started our fiscal year off serving 38 teachers across, with 58% of those teachers here in North Carolina. At the start of this year, we currently have 174 teachers, with 44% of those teachers being educators in North Carolina. We are answering educators' calls nationwide, and our membership reflects that. With a growth of over 276%, it is clear that spaces like ours are very much needed and appreciated. Our network not only increased, but the impact did as well. Knowing the needs of our most marginalized and vulnerable, underserved communities, our educators are positioned to answer the call. 100% of our members work in Title I schools. That is admirable, that is commendable, and that is a statement. Our teachers are servant leaders, champions, advocates, and community ambassadors. They deserve to be supported and celebrated, and because of your generosity, we have not left an educator seeking our space behind. With you by our side, we have supported the wellness of our educators by prioritizing their mental health.
80 hours of professional development centered around Social Emotional Learning and AntiRacism Monthly wellness packages Over 80 hours for conferences and networking events Together-networking Educating- facing resources, including lesson plans and unit plans Advocating-Anti-Racist teaching materials Coaching Healing-Social Emotional Learning resources for both educators and students We’ve cultivated a strong community of 174 anti-racist educators We welcomed new funders to our network, including New People’s Alliance and The Michael Jordan and Jordan Brands Black Community Commitment Through this support, our efforts will help to retain more women of color in education. Look at our growth! Your continued support creates a more diverse teacher pipeline in North Carolina and nationwide. Our students deserve representation; to make that happen, we must support our teachers. Thank you for doing just that. You are making a difference. Let’s keep building something powerful, impactful, and life-changing together! Profoundly yours,
Keiyonna Dubashi
PROFOUND LADIES ANNUAL REPORT 2023
About Us Mission: Profound Ladies diversifies the teaching workforce through recruitment and development of women of color educators. We equip BIPOC educators with mentorship, training, leadership and career development pathways to support them during their career in education in effort to retain teachers with the end goal of establishing and maintaining diversity in educational leadership, schools, and communities. Vision: Profound Ladies has a bold vision, to increase the retention of Black, Indigenous Women of Color in education who interrupt inequitable outcomes for all students.
In December 2019, stakeholders from across the state of North Carolina gathered at the Developing a Representative and Inclusive Vision for Education (DRIVE) Summit. During the Summit, Governor Roy Cooper announced Executive Order 113 which established the DRIVE Task Force. It was during this event that Profound Ladies Founder Keiyonna Dubashi began to work on Profound Ladies. Our organization was founded in the year 2020, in response to the ongoing police brutality against Black people in this country, and the fact that 82% of our current teacher workforce is white women. There proved to be a need for teachers, specifically Black Women, to be able to assist in the processing of events that were taking place in our country and for their students everyday - more than half of our students in North Carolina are minorities.
PROFOUND LADIES ANNUAL REPORT 2023
The timeliness of Profound Ladies led to our organization’s ability to serve Women of Colors educators at a crucial time. We were hearing from educators that they were not provided resources, or traumainformed spaces to work out how they were experiencing racism in order to make sure they could show up for students during the social unrest and global health pandemic. During this time, we were able to provide those resources and spaces to Women of Color educators, while fostering interpersonal relationships between our members that brought not only support, but moments of joy. We prioritized programming centering the social emotional health of teachers, while providing ongoing training and development to potential allies. Training included an online series of learning opportunities in which participants could work on creating conditions for BIPOC teachers to thrive in the midst of those challenges, by encouraging them to do the necessary personal work to mitigate racism in the workplace and centering the journey of being an Anti-racist through deep personal development. We also hosted a book study using Ibram Kendi's book, How to Be an Anti Racist. These opportunities received high reviews and interests, and the learning offered was named as pivotal professional development for teachers everywhere by the participants. Several of our online engagements provided spaces for anti-racist work to take place as well as addressing the Anti-Asian sentiment that was happening because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
This early work of Profound Ladies built a coalition of followers, members, staff members and community members committed to seeking deeper compassion, connection, empathy and the pursuit of liberty for all people. We aim to increase our reach to Black, Indigenous, Women of Color educators and the impact we have in their lives, the lives of their students, and thus the overarching education system and society. Our organization is at a critical juncture as we move from inception to infrastructure building. Profound Ladies began with 25 members and now serves over 170 women through membership. Our team is working relentlessly in this crucial stage to both improve and scale our model.
Community Need
PROFOUND LADIES ANNUAL REPORT 2023
While the number of children of color continues to grow in our public school system, the majority of teachers and leaders continue to be white. BIPOC educators are drastically underrepresented in our public school system, yet they are essential to the success of their students, especially those who are girls of color.BIPOC women
have
historically
been
subjected
to
discrimination that continues to present challenges and barriers to thriving as a leader in education. From segregated schools to 1954’s Brown vs. Board of Education to the present, students of color have continued to fight for the right to a sound and equitable education. Despite the growing number of students of color in our society, only 16% of K-12 teachers are BIPOC. Moreover, BIPOC educators experience a significant wage gap when compared to their white colleagues, with many making less than $15 an hour and facing structural barriers that hamper career advancement. Unfortunately, 72% of BIPOC educators stop teaching within the first five years due to inadequate support systems and lack of career growth opportunities.
Profound
Ladies
is
entering
this
changing and challenging fight in order to change the trajectory of BIPOC women in public education and thus, the trajectory of the students of color they teach. Our program focuses on Black, Indigenous, and Women of Color teachers because we know representation matters.
Our Impact
NJ 1.9% VA 21.4%
NC 48.7%
AR 0.7%
148
CA 7.8% CO 1.9% DE 7.1%
ACTIVE MEMBERS ACROSS 23 STATES GA 4.6%
276.32% RATE OF GROWTH THROUGH FY’ 23
LA 3.9%
YEARS
2021-2022
2022-2023
ACTIVE AT START OF FY
0
38
GAINED DURING FY
40
108
ACTIVE AT END OF FY/CURRENT
38
143
RETENTION
95%
96.62%
ATTRITION
5%
3.38%
+25%
MEMBERS START THE YEAR OFF ENGAGED YEAR OVER YEAR
Our Programs Profound Ladies programming includes events, digital resources, and professional development opportunities related to culturally relevant curriculum design, antiracist classroom management practices, student engagement surrounding social & educational justice issues, and social-emotional learning for educators. We offer SEL workshops and conferences which are hosted and led by Impact Leaders and other specialists throughout the community. Profound Ladies also hosts a kick-off and culminating retreat rooted and grounded in our core values. Each retreat is designed with multiple sessions which are used to gather data and feedback from participants. The development of each member is measured by both their responses on session tasks as well as through observation of their interaction within members of the Profound Ladies community. Our programming also includes community-building activities, such as film screenings, book studies, member retreats, and civic engagement activities. During FY’23, Profound Ladies has sent members to the Congressional Black Caucus Conference in Washington D.C and hosted a conversation with members and the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, which facilitate opportunities for our members to operate as educational leaders and advocates both in and outside the classroom in order to create systemic change.
“Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is an act of selfpreservation, and that is an act of political warfare”
– Audre Lorde
The Cohort Experience We welcome Black, Indigienous, Women of color educators to join our community and to be connected with teachers of similar experience. Profound Ladies supports three cohorts: Beginning teacherS with 0-3 years of classroom experience Veteran teachers with 4-10 years experience Principals & Administrators with 10+ years experience Cohorts meet monthly to actively learn how to incorporate anti-racist curriculum, participate in social-emotional learning exercises for adults, and build trauma-informed practices. The personal experiences of our Impact Leaders, all women of color educators with significant experience, and Onward: Cultivating Emotional Resilience in Educators, the framework by Elena Aguilar, shape this model and the coaching.
One-on-One Coaching Members of the Profound ladies network have the opportunity to receive 20 hours of one-onone coaching each academic year to develop and execute their individualized Impact Development Plan (IDP). Impact Leaders guide and mentor members to actualize the goals set forth in the Impact Development Plans, serve as an accountability partner, and most importantly, center teacher wellbeing. The goals of our members vary widely depending on their experience and visions for their personal and professional futures.
Workshop Weeks In order to deliver our programs effectively and to accommodate the very busy schedule of teachers, we developed monthly virtual workshop weeks. Through participation in workshop weeks members work to interrupt inequity, contribute powerfully, and cultivate community. Workshop weeks occur on a quarterly basis and are open to all members!
Monthly Wellness Packages Every month, Profound Ladies members receive a wellness package, centered around social emotional learning, enclosed in profound pink packaging. Similar to a monthly subscription box, our members have confessed looking forward to receiving our wellness packages. Centered around Onward: Cultivating Emotional Resilience in Educators, the framework by Elena Aguilar, wellness packages include small gifts and wellness programming reminders to support educators on their wellness journey. Profound Ladies uses these wellness packages as touchpoints to push back against teacher burnout and the lack of national and statewide teacher support practices.
T.E.A.C.H. Portal We now offer a portal with access to resources supporting our teachers daily! Our T.E.A.C.H. portal is up and running
Equity Pledge
EVENTS
By taking this pledge, you are joining Profound Ladies and community of changemakers working to create a more equitable education system for BIPOC teachers and students. Through increased awareness and tangible action steps, we can shift the social and systemic barriers that exist within our public school system.
Crown Act Hair discrimination can start as early as five – and last a lifetime. It's time to take action to change this. Please support the federal bill, the CROWN Act, and help end race-based hair discrimination.
School Tours We visit members in classrooms during our Back to School Tour (September) and Spread the love Tour (February).
Wellness Popup We visit members in classrooms during our Back to School Tour (September) and Spread the love Tour (February).
Back to School Jam 2022
Financials
PROFOUND LADIES ANNUAL REPORT 2023
Revenue
Individual Donations: (3.5%) Grants (94.8%) Events: (1.7%)
Expenses Programs: 33.5% Operations: 53.5% Fundraising: 13%
To Our Funders Thank you to the grant makers, individuals, and community partnerships that make our work possible. It is your belief in Profound Ladies that has propelled our efforts to retain more women of color in education. We want to express our sincere gratitude to all of you for nurturing and supporting our growth and sustainability.
Individual Donors Jason Terrell Allison Kerivan Katie Sutton Jenny O’Meara All of your continued support contributes to creating a more diverse teacher pipeline in North Carolina. Our students deserve representation and in order to make that happen we have to support our teachers.
Our Team Keiyonna Dubashi
Asya Toney
Patrice Frilot
Timoshanae Wellmaker
Founder & Chief Executive Officer
Chief of Staff
Impact Leader
Impact Leader
Tamara Crochran
Amber Jackson
Jia Lin
Leaundra Clay
Community & School Partnerships
Impact Leader
Impact Leader
Impact Leader
Nevaeh Travis Social Media Intern
Our Leadership Anna Almore
Donnell Cannon
Jenny O’Meara
Courtney Parker West
Board President Doctoral Candidate, University of Michigan
Board Member Executive Director Maureen Joy Charter School
Board Member Partner, Transcend Education
Board Member Managing Director of Capacity Building, Teach for America
Gina Zhang
Taylor Gonzalez
Leah Sutton
Board Member Data Analyst, North Carolina Department of Public Instruction
Board Member Director of Partnerships, WorkMonger
Board Member Vice President of Policy & Engagement, BESTNC
PROFOUND LADIES ANNUAL REPORT 2023
Thank You Phone Number
919-229-9142
Email Address
hello@profoundladies.org
Website
ProfoundLadies.org