imPACT Fellows Celebrate Early Achievements

This summer NBA’s Social Entrepreneurship program launched the first imPACT Fellows initiative with two exceptional fellows, Sophia M. Barnett and Rev. Dr. Milton Keys, dedicated to advancing social entrepreneurship within historically marginalized or under-resourced communities in the United States.  

The Fellows were initiated into the program with an orientation at NBA’s headquarters in St. Louis at the end of the summer. They met with NBA President & CEO Mark Anderson, Executive Vice-President Rebecca Hale, Director of Marketing Kristy Vaughan and NBA’s Social Entrepreneurship team, along with a representative from the Pension Fund of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) to learn more about the NBA, attend education sessions and discuss parameters and expectations of being in the program.  

Since then, both have met monthly with strategic business coaches to discuss leadership development, strategy, business development and goal setting, and have been working to implement what they have learned this far into their respective organizations. Barnett, founder of Making a Child Change Foundation in Detroit, Michigan, is already realizing the benefits of being part of the program. “These first three months of uninterrupted time spent ‘working in the business’ have far surpassed the progress I made in my first five years of ‘working on the business,’” she said. “I’ve been able to expand my resources add members to our board, restructure operations [and] finalize programming.”  

Similarly, Keys, founder of Advocates Embassy Corporation in Indianapolis, Indiana, has seen successes since beginning the program. “I’m not only building the structure of our non-profit, and developing our board of directors, I’m also building the services and products that we need to do our work,” he said. “I’m so excited about this process and I’m looking forward to 2025.”  

“It is great to see the early ripples of impact that are spreading because of this initiative,” said Rev. Darnell Fennell, NBA’s Director of Social Entrepreneurship. “The impacts go from NBA leaders but also from our leaders to NBA as they are teaching valuable insights about transitioning to full-time entrepreneurial work.” 

The imPACT Fellows initiative is a multi-year program that aims to empower bi-vocational entrepreneurs by providing crucial financial resources that enable them to devote their full attention to their impactful projects. By offering full-time salary support, the NBA ensures that these social entrepreneurs can focus on driving significant social change without the burden of financial instability.