Meeting the Moment: How EdLoC Is Supporting Leaders of Color to Strengthen and Sustain Their Organizations
By Sharhonda Bossier, EdLoC CEO
While this year has brought an array of challenges to many organizations in our Network, EdLoC stands resilient—driving our mission forward and equipping our members to do the same.
We’ve listened to funders, members, and partners who are facing hard choices about how to sustain their work amid today’s political and economic realities. In these conversations, we see not just the strain—but the opportunity. And we find that we are called to serve our Network in a deeper way. EdLoC is uniquely positioned to lead in helping values-aligned organizations ensure that their important work not only endures but evolves.
EdLoC is rising to meet the moment by deepening our role as a catalyst and incubator of collaboration, supporting members in sustaining the vital work of their organizations. As part of that work, we aim to foster and invest in partnerships that sustain and advance organizations that create opportunities for young people of color.
How EdLoC Will Lead
Strategic Partnership Support
EdLoC will provide resources, facilitation, and a trusted space for leaders to explore mergers, acquisitions, and shared services as tools for sustainability—not last resorts. We’ll help organizations think through due diligence, governance, and alignment in ways that keep leaders of color at the center of decision-making and preserve the values that make their work vital to our communities. Our goal is not to signal that consolidations are inevitable or the only way forward. Rather, this evolution reflects our understanding that sustainability takes many forms—and that collaboration can be a proactive, empowering strategy.
The Boulder Fund’s Evolution
The Boulder Fund has always been a critical part of EdLoC’s commitment to supporting innovative leaders of color. Throughout its history, the Fund focused primarily on early-stage entrepreneurs—helping emerging and established leaders launch new, innovative organizations and ideas.
Beginning with the next cycle in 2026, the Boulder Fund will evolve to meet this moment by supporting organizations to explore strategic partnerships, collaborations, or mergers as pathways to long-term sustainability. This includes organizations that may be considering shared service models, co-leadership structures, or even acquisitions that preserve their mission and programs under new configurations. The Boulder Fund will make it possible for organizations to access the resources they need to explore their options responsibly: funding for due diligence, legal and financial counsel, or consultants who can help navigate transitions with care.
Through this evolved Boulder Fund structure, we can support organizations led by leaders of color in preserving their impact and continue to serve youth and communities in new forms.
Ongoing Learning and Capacity Building
EdLoC will continue investing in our members’ capacity to lead through uncertainty with a robust series of learning opportunities. This year, we launched the Merging to Meet the Mission webinar series, and we will continue these learning opportunities, starting with our upcoming conversation, “Future-Proofing: Using Futurism to Build Organizational Sustainability,” featuring futurist and philanthropic strategist Trista Harris.
Building on our Merging to Meet the Mission series, this webinar broadens the lens to include all pathways to sustainability—whether through partnerships, mergers, or simply fortifying existing models. The core challenge remains the same: how to create organizations that are resilient, financially sound, and rooted in equity.
You’ll also see programming at our 2026 National Convening on this topic, bringing together the leaders who are advancing these types of conversations across sectors to support the Network and our closest allies in the important decisions that lie ahead for nonprofits that share our vision of all young people accessing opportunity, building wealth, and thriving.
Leading This Work
We are welcoming Jin-Soo Huh to lead this work as our new Senior Director of Partnerships & Innovation. Jin-Soo is a longtime EdLoC Policy Council Member and former Partner at The Learning Accelerator. He is an experienced educator and school innovation leader and has expertise in school design, education technology, professional development, and personalized learning.
At EdLoC, he will help organizations navigate this changing landscape—exploring partnerships, mergers, shared services, and new infrastructure models without losing their focus on their mission, equity, or community connections.
Power Building During Unprecedented Times
This work is not new for EdLoC—it’s a continuation of who we have always been. From our founding, EdLoC has been an incubator for collaboration and innovation. We have always believed that by coming together, we can build something stronger and more enduring than any one organization could on its own.
Today, that belief guides our expanded focus on supporting members as they explore pathways to sustainability and growth in this climate. This is an evolution rooted in the same purpose that has always defined us: helping leaders of color build lasting impact for young people of color.
EdLoC has seen firsthand how strategic partnerships strengthen our collective impact:
When we acquired Campaign for Our Shared Future, we ensured that vital advocacy for inclusive, high-quality public education could continue thriving under a sustainable structure.
Through incubating the Social Studies Accelerator, we elevated an innovative model that equips educators to teach history and civics with depth and relevance.
By supporting the launch of the APIA Ed Collective, we helped create space for Asian and Pacific Islander educators to build community, leadership, and voice within the field.
Each of these efforts demonstrates that when organizations align around shared values and receive support through intentional partnerships, they don't just survive, they flourish. These experiences have deepened our understanding of what it takes to guide nonprofits through transitions with care, purpose, and long-term impact.
EdLoC’s Mission Hasn’t Changed–We’re Just Going Deeper
EdLoC’s work remains rooted in the values of ending generational poverty, creating sustainable change, creating schools we all want for our children, and going beyond education. While we are expanding our programming to serve the immediate sustainability needs of many in our Network, our commitment to building collective power and nurturing our multi-sector membership remains unchanged.
You’ll see our sustained commitment to the mission in practice throughout all your interactions with and within EdLoC. Our gatherings and other offerings—whether the National Convening, local gatherings, or EdLoC Connect—remain vital spaces where leaders of color can recharge, exchange ideas, and collaborate across sectors. EdLoC will continue to bring people together for connection, inspiration, and collective problem-solving, even as our focus deepens on sustaining the field’s long-term capacity.
Looking Ahead
We know this moment is challenging. But we also know that our Network has the creativity, courage, and collective strength to emerge even more resilient. EdLoC will continue to be a place where leaders of color find community, resources, and forge a clear path forward—together.
If your organization is considering a partnership, merger, or new ways to sustain your mission, we want to hear from you. If you are looking to fund work that sustains organizations building power in communities, educating young people and preparing them for the future, and driving systemic change through cross-sector collaboration, please reach out.
Let’s build the future our young people deserve.