Meet Alisha L. Gordon | Founder and Executive Director of The Current Project

We had the good fortune of connecting with Alisha L. Gordon and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Alisha, what role has risk played in your life or career?
If one were to ask my friends, they would likely say that my life has been one quantum leap after another. As a single mother, I’ve taken a lot of risk to get to where I am; from leaving a teaching position in 2011 to moving back home without another job opportunity lined up, to attending graduate school full time with a then 8-year-old, to relying on pure skill and relationships with folks I’ve met over the years to help me find my way when we relocated to New York in 2016, everything I’ve done has been a risk.

However, this is the power of what my mentor calls, “the community of reliable others.” This community consists of the friends, family, colleagues who made sure we didn’t fall flat on our faces when we made these jumps. They made sure we had what we needed, even before we knew it was a need, and have been critical to my willingness to take risks in life.

One thing I know for sure is that in order to live the lives we are created to live, we must risk something. For some, that’s power. For others, that could be connections to institutions that we co-dependently hold on to for social and financial security. When we take the risk to step out and pursue our soul’s work, we will find that there are people who will affirm, support the vision, and create space for you to imagine a new world for yourself.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
The Current Project is a nonprofit organization that connects programming and policy to help close the social and economic gap for Black single mothers. We have an ambitious goal that by 2030, every Black single mother we encounter will have a pathway toward social and economic thriving through education, employment access, or small business.

Data shows that for marginalized folks, education, work opportunities, and small business are key pathways to thriving. For Black single mothers, one of the largest household types in many urban cities including Atlanta, Black single mothers have the innovation and drive to transform their lives, but often not the resources and support.

We’ve had the privilege of testing out these big, innovative ideas through virtual cohort models, providing financial coaching and emotional wellness support to moms across the country. Thanks to partnerships with organizations like Black woman owned firm Pink Cornrows, EHTP, City Fund, and The National Teacher Project, we’ve successfully completed two cohorts. Now we’re building our capacity to scale programming to reach more mothers.

Our most recent cohort, CurrentEconomics, provided direct financial support to Black mothers who spent six weeks learning everything there is to know about financial wellness, saving and , tools to pay down debt. They also learned , ways to connect their personal narratives to how they understand money. Because of this work, 55% of participants were able to pay down a debt and 44% of them were able to save money — a feat in such a short amount of time.

This is the testament of the work — that when we make real investments in the lives of Black single mothers, we can see the immediate fruit of the work. And, not just for their thriving, but for the thriving of the children they’re raising.
Our long term goal is to use data from our programming to impact policy; as it stands, many Black single mothers go through programs to help improve their lives but go back into a system that is not designed to sustain their thriving. The Current Project connects programming to policy to help lengthen the runway for Black mothers, to ensure they have the capacity to reclaim their goals and dreams without having social safety nets pulled from under them.

The Current Project is very much reflective of my lived experience as a single mother, figuring out how to hold on to my dreams, to create my own pathways of thriving while raising a child. I’ve had to navigate systems that were built to pigeonhole me into antiquated ideas of self and what I had the capacity to be; it has been the generosity of people who believed in who I could become with intentional forms of care and support that undergirds my story and the work of The Current Project.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Whenever I touch down in the city, I love going to spots like Bar Vegan, Apt 4B, Rock Steady, Cru at The Battery. But, really, you’ll find me at the Waffle House on Wesley Chapel or with a 10- piece lemon pepper, wet, extra crispy with a peach drink in my lap.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
First, giving honor to God who’s the head of my life! Shout out to the homie, Jesus, who has kept me close even when I was running from His best! Shout out to Decatur. To Glenwood. To Emerald Estates. To Towers High. Remember: good things come out of Decatur! And shout out to my daughter, Ashli. She’s the real MVP.

Website: www.thecurrentproject.org

Instagram: www.instagram.com/dstarwriter59

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alishalgordon/

Twitter: www.twitter.com/dstarwriter59

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxQh52hUEXw

Other: Articles x the Author: Toni Morrison’s Radical Model of Care for Black Single Mothers https://medium.com/@dstarwriter59/toni-morrisons-radical-model-of-care-for-black-single-mothers-b456704789b1?sk=5344341e3ac25c5dd7313903a68adaf4 Lengthen the Runway So Black Mothers Can Take Flight https://medium.com/@dstarwriter59/lengthen-the-runway-so-black-mothers-can-take-flight-f853de80e4ef

Image Credits
Sydnie Heslop John Lesley Morton Anthony Artis