We had a great discussion tonight at the Voices of the Sector community dialogue with young black nonprofit professionals, hosted by YNPNdc.

Two huge themes emerged – 1)  The need for mentors and 2)  Resources

Mentors

We need people who believe in our talents and can promote our unique skills within our organizations.  Professional development still has a lot to do with who you know and entree into leadership roles.

Resources

In order to get jobs in certain sectors, like international development, students and young professionals start out with unpaid internships.  Unfortunately, many people cannot afford to go without an income for that long, blocking us out of certain jobs.  This was actually one of the hugest issues of the night – how can we build our careers in nonprofit jobs that do not pay anything at first?  Where are resources for scholarships?

The discussion brought up some great issues, and the extremely intelligent members of YNPNdc challenged us on the leadership team to continue now with solutions.  We heard you!  In January we will have a large cross-community event that will bring us all together to discuss what we’ve learned and how to move forward.

What a great event!