Sabrina Madison, known to many by her handle "Heymiss Progress," set out into the entrepreneurial world with one goal in mind: To uplift and help black women.
“When I left my job at Madison College I said, 'I’m quitting to go work for black women,'” she said.
Since then, she has created several initiatives including an annual Black Women’s Leadership Conference, Black Excellence Youth Conference, and Black Business Expos. While this is amazing, her newest project brings it all together.
Wednesday, Madison announced the creation of The Progress Center for Black Women, an organization that will put her current projects under one roof and allows her to expand her efforts to empower African American women and families.
“This is about providing a more concrete and long-lasting way to serve black women,” she said. “It shouldn’t need me to survive.”
The Cap Times reports that the center will allow her to start several new efforts, including an entrepreneur collaborative space, a leadership accelerator, AMBITION, and a small-dollar lending program called blkCOLLAB.
AMBITION will provide leadership training that gets at “the heart of what black women need,” she said. It will facilitate job shadowing and help women form comprehensive plans for their careers. She will use blkCOLLAB to provide a collaborative space for black entrepreneurs as well as aid them in harnessing essential skills for entrepreneurship.
The center will be run out of the Urban League for now. Wanting to start AMBITION and blkCOLLAB during Black History Month, Madison has a February money-raising goal. She has already secured about $20,000. Donations for Madison’s center can be made through the Center for Community Stewardship at centerforblackwomen.org.
“It’s really asking the community, hey, let’s make an investment,” she said.
Investing in ourselves is something many of us say we need to do, but shout out to Sabrina Madison for working to make it happen. She's building a legacy that will keep on giving.