Letter From the Director

Tapping into the unknown and unleashing the leadership potential within each student is exactly what 21st Century Leaders is all about.

I love that our student, Hope, discovered the best of herself and now feels confident to lead in her school, community, and, ultimately, the workforce equipped with the skills needed to be successful.

Being reminded of Hope’s personal transformation and seeing that lightbulb moment in-person after two years of virtual programming was my favorite part of 2022. While our commitment and impact on our students has never faded, there’s nothing quite like bringing diverse students and professionals together and seeing them interact and learn from one another face to face.

Through the help of our incredible staff, board of directors and leadership teams, partners, volunteers, and donors, we were able to serve a historic 1,600 high school students across Georgia in 2022, many of whom experienced their own “Hope” moments.

Helping lead that work was our board chair, Matt Johnson, who completed his board chair commitment at the end of our 2022 fiscal year. I want to thank Matt for his service as Chair over the past three years and over a decade of board service. Matt led the organization with compassion, strategic vision, and a spirit of hospitality. Through his service and dedication, 21st Century Leaders saw stability through a pandemic, growth into a landmark budget, and the mission-aligned impact of our youth leaders.

I hope you see and feel the impact that 21st Century Leaders has on young people while you read through this report. While it’s important to reflect, I also want us not to forget to look ahead because youth leadership development programs are more vital than ever before as our young people recover from the incredibly challenging past 2.5 years. We’ve only begun to uncover the long-term impact and ramifications our young people are facing. They still need us to inspire them, they still need you to support them.

Let’s do that together!

Sincerely,

Executive Director

21st Century Leaders’ strength and distinction lie in the engagement of business leaders as volunteers, retooling corporate leadership training for our programs, and an unyielding commitment to the power of diversity. Throughout our history, 21st Century Leaders has connected thousands of Georgia youth, business professionals, and volunteers for one purpose–to inspire the next generation of diverse leaders to lead our businesses and our communities.