Picture a room of student leaders from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) laughing, hugging, and celebrating two years of advancing Reproductive Justice through advocacy that transformed them, their campuses, and their communities. That was the energy in the room at our 2026 Next Generation Leadership Institute Graduation Retreat in Washington, D.C.
I was filled with immense pride as we ushered this outgoing class into the next phase of their journey as budding Reproductive Justice activists. From the moment our 2026 fellows entered the program, they made history as the most inclusive cohort we have ever welcomed, with the largest representation of HBCUs to date. And what makes this distinct class even more remarkable is that they didn’t stop there. They carried that same spirit of excellence and purpose throughout their entire two-year fellowships.
As I stood in that room watching these young leaders reflect on the connections they made and the impact of the campus programming they hosted, I was moved beyond words. I was reminded of exactly why this work matters and why it demands our full investment. These students didn’t arrive at this moment by accident. They arrived because In Our Own Voice: National Black Women’s Reproductive Justice Agenda made a deliberate, sustained commitment to equip the next generation of Reproductive Justice leaders. As we close out the 2024–2026 programmatic cycle, I want to share what that investment produced, and what I believe funders need to understand about the kind of support that makes results like this possible.
In Our Own Voice is a national-state partnership that amplifies the voices of Black women leaders to secure Reproductive Justice for Black women, girls, and gender-expansive people. The Next Generation Leadership Institute is our flagship fellowship, the leading Reproductive Justice program for students at HBCUs. While it’s important to focus on what this program is, it’s equally important to focus on what it isn’t.
This is not a pipeline program designed to funnel talented young people into pre-existing structures and call that leadership development. The Next Generation Leadership Institute is built on a fundamentally different premise: that young Black people at HBCUs already have the passion and the vision to create change. What they need are the resources, infrastructure, and perhaps most critically, trust.
An Effective, Responsive Model
Why HBCUs? Why youth? Why Reproductive Justice? The majority of HBCUs are located in states with the most restrictive reproductive rights in the country. Our students are not studying these issues from a distance; they are