Aisha Nyandoro

Meaningful change often begins with having the courage and curiosity to ask nonobvious questions. Aisha Nyandoro, the founding CEO of Springboard to Opportunities in Jackson, Miss., has become a national leader in the quest to end generational poverty by basing her work on a radically practical approach: listening to those most in need.

Nyandoro asked mothers living in poverty in Jackson what challenges they faced and learned that almost all of them could be solved simply with money. So, in 2018, she launched Magnolia Mother’s Trust, a first-of-its-kind guaranteed-­income program that provides participants—all Black mothers living in affordable housing—with $1,000 per month for one year, no strings attached, along with a college savings account for each of their children. 

The concept is deceptively simple: give money to mothers in need and trust them with how to use it. The results have been life-altering—more than 400 women and their families have felt the lasting impact on their finances, parenting, health, and education, and the next cohort of the project will launch this fall. Aisha Nyandoro is challenging fundamental misconceptions about poverty, especially its association with race and gender. And she is helping to pioneer innovative policy changes that are making a difference.

Powell Jobs is founder and president of Emerson Collective, which named Nyandoro to its Dial Fellowship program in 2022

Hair and makeup by Carla Pressley

Read TIME's profile on Aisha Nyandoro here.