by Tamar Cloyd
Tamar is a Grants Officer for the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
Leading from the Bottom Up
Being young in the nonprofit sector is challenging. Many times we enter the field, filled with energy and ideas on how we can improve our communities and ultimately our world. Yet as we navigate our way towards a meaningful career, we’re often faced with a variety of barriers.
- Our organization doesn’t value our contributions.
- There is no room to advance to another position.
- We’re expected to do the work with limited support from management.
But many of us came to the sector because we felt a sense of urgency in addressing social inequities. And after attending the 2009 YNPN (Young Nonprofit Professionals Network ) Leaders Conference in Washington, D.C, I’m convinced that young people are ready and will continue to identify ways to overcome leadership obstacles.
From joining a local nonprofit board to identifying your work style, there are a lot of ways to navigate the nonprofit “glass ceiling”. As Gandhi is so famously quoted as saying, “Be the change you want to see in the world.” Indeed, our time for being coined “young leaders” will only last so long and our communities can’t afford to wait any longer for your inner leader to emerge.
