The Critically Conscious Youth Development (CCYD) grant program is well underway with the cohort having just had its first retreat this July. CCYD’s capacity building program is supported by PFF Program Officer Amarilis Pullen, and designed and led by Capacity Building Fellows Morgan Little and Ja’Dell Davis. Read on to learn more about them!
Morgan Little, LMSW (she/her) is a North Carolina native and UNC-Chapel Hill graduate who received her Bachelor of Arts in Exercise and Sport Science and African-American Studies. While at UNC, Morgan was deeply involved in the Black Student Movement and developed a deep interest in community work that centers blackness and other marginalized communities. After UNC, Morgan attended Columbia University and received her Masters in Social Work from Columbia University, focusing on AGPP, Advanced Generalist Programming and Practice. Utilizing the skills gained at Columbia, Morgan worked at the Educational Alliance in various positions from Program Coordinator to Senior Director of Adolescent Services, in the Youth Services Department for six and a half years. At the Educational Alliance, Morgan is a leader who was instrumental in developing the early awareness program, that utilized the popular education an approach to mobilize young people. Currently, Morgan serves as the Director of Programs at Sadie Nash Leadership Project, a youth development that centers the experience of young women and gender non-conforming youth through leadership, activism and black feminist theory. Morgan is committed to empowering young people to seek joy and liberation on their journey through mindfulness and community healing practices.
Ja’Dell Davis (she/her) is a doctoral student in the Department of Sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Advisor for Research and Evaluation at Sadie Nash Leadership Project, a youth development program in New York City. Her work focuses on race-ethnicity in education, particularly the experiences of youth and practitioners in Out-of-School Time and after school education, the transition from high school to post-secondary education, and race discourse in educative contexts. Ja’Dell is also a program evaluator with specific training in culturally responsive evaluation. Ja’Dell previously taught high school in Philadelphia public schools and implemented college access and academic enrichment programming in Chester, Pennsylvania and New York City. Ja’Dell received her B.A. from Swarthmore College with a special major in History and Educational Studies and a minor in Black Studies, completed her M.S.Ed in Secondary School Education at the University of Pennsylvania, and an M.A. in Sociology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.