(July 5, 2018 – New Orleans) The mission of the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW) is to lead, advocate for and empower women of African descent, their families and communities. NCNW is an “organization of organizations” (comprised of 286 community and campus-based sections in thirty-eight states, and thirty-two affiliated national women’s organizations) that enlightens, inspires and connects more than 2,000,000 women and men. More than five thousand of NCNW’s members are students at seventy-three institutions of higher education, including, Howard University, Spelman College, Fisk University, Bethune Cookman University, North Carolina A & T University, Florida A & M University, University of Michigan, Eastern Michigan University and University of Connecticut. NCNW’s community-based sections engage in a robust program of service and uplift that includes book drives, enrichment programs for girls, clothing drives, assistance to disaster struck areas and health fairs.

NCNW was founded in 1935 by Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune, influential educator and activist, and for more than fifty years, the iconic Dr. Dorothy Height was president of NCNW. Ms. Ingrid Saunders Jones was elected Chair of NCNW in 2012, ushering in a new era of progress and growth for the organization.

Today, NCNW’s programs are grounded on a foundation of critical concerns known as “Four for the Future”. NCNW promotes education with a special focus on science, technology, engineering, arts and math; encourages entrepreneurship, financial literacy and economic stability; educates women about good health and HIV/AIDS; promotes civic engagement and advocates for sound public policy.

NCNW sponsors “HBCU STEAM Forum”, an exciting interactive day which guides students in grades 5-12 on an exciting day of discovery linking science, technology, engineering, art and math to educational and career opportunity. Nearly eight hundred youngsters participated in this year’s STEAM programs in Atlanta and Greenville, SC, with expansion to New York and Chicago planned for 2019.

NCNW is one of the principal partners in All of Us, a groundbreaking public awareness campaign to increase understanding of how individual differences in lifestyle, environment, and biology accelerate research and improve health. The All of Us Research Program is a historic effort to gather data from one million or more people living in the United States to uncover paths toward delivering precision medicine.

Twice each month, from January-October, NCNW demystifies the worlds of finance, economics and entrepreneurship through its two webinar series: Millennial Entrepreneurs (ME!) and Women’s Economic Empowerment. Speakers from influential organizations such as Clark Atlanta University School of Business, Google and The Coca-Cola Company engage, inspire and challenge participants. In its third year, the program has served more than fifteen thousand women and men.

Long before the tragedies in Parkland, FL or Las Vegas, NCNW took a principled stand in favor of better solutions to rampant gun violence. NCNW helped bring cleaner water to Flint, MI and is currently engaged in a national campaign to help voters understand their local Boards of Election in preparation for the 2018 elections.

NCNW’s headquarters is located in the historic Dorothy Irene Height Building, the only Black-owned commercial building on America’s Main Street, Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, DC. NCNW also operates Bethune Park on the reclaimed site of Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune’s birth home in Mayesville, SC. Today NCNW is alive, well and solvent.