About The Folding Chair Collective
The Folding Chair Collective is our opportunity to center ourselves with all of our identities and work collaboratively to achieve collective change. Bringing together Black women leaders from across the country, we support the advancement of the communities we represent and serve through our advocacy and policy work.
Our History
TFCC co-founders Chastity Lord and Nicole Lynn Lewis know first-hand that the people most proximate to issues of poverty and economic injustice are rarely, if ever, invited into conversations about policy solutions. With this in mind, they set out to assemble a team of influential Black women leaders who understand the contours and nuances of these issues and who can bring members of affected communities into the strategy process.
Our Theory of Change
01 CREATE a sacred space that allows Black women leaders to confidently bring all of our identities into the room to aid the communities we serve.
02 TRANSLATE our collective expertise, influence, and power to drive a collective agenda and aid the communities we serve.
03 CHAMPION and center the experiences of our community members, who are often strategically excluded from authoring solutions.
04 ENSURE that race and gender are never divorced from conversations about generational poverty and economic mobility.
05 DESIGN key actions and policy recommendations to advance and support postsecondary educational access and persistence for women of color in the communities we serve across the United States.