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National Council of Negro Womenncnw.org
National Council of Negro Women
An organization of organizations — nearly 400 sections, 38 national affiliates, a network of three million women and men.
Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune founded NCNW on December 5, 1935 to give Black women one national voice instead of many scattered ones. Dr. Dorothy Height then led it for forty years. The mission has not moved: lead, advocate for and empower women of African descent, their families and communities. Today that work runs on four priorities — education; entrepreneurship, financial literacy and economic stability; health and healthcare access; and civic engagement, public policy and social justice.
What NCNW Does
An Organization of Organizations
Close to 400 campus and community-based sections plus 38 national women's organizations, connecting three million women and men. NCNW does not compete with its affiliates — it convenes them.
A Teachers' Union Sits on the Affiliate Roster
The American Federation of Teachers is one of NCNW's 38 national affiliates, alongside the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, the National Association of Black Social Workers, the National Bar Association Women Lawyers Division and the historically Black sororities. Labor is already in the room.
The First Black Labor Secretary Came Through Here
The late Alexis M. Herman — 23rd U.S. Secretary of Labor and the first African American to hold that office — was mentored by Dorothy Height and remained an NCNW leader for the rest of her life, serving as Senior Advisor to the Chair. When NCNW talks about economic empowerment, that lineage is behind it.
Bethune Height Changemakers Pathways
NCNW's signature program under Rev. Arline-Bradley: mentorship and high-level career opportunities for collegiate Black women, built to close the gap between a degree and an industry that will hire you.
Bethune's House Is a National Historic Site
The Mary McLeod Bethune Council House served as NCNW's first headquarters from 1943 to 1966 and is now a National Historic Site run by the National Park Service. The Council's headquarters today is the Dorothy Irene Height Building on Pennsylvania Avenue.
President & CEO · Speaker, TN NAACP 80th Annual State Convention
Rev. Shavon Arline-Bradley
President & Chief Executive Officer, National Council of Negro Women · Founding Principal & CEO, R.E.A.C.H. Beyond Solutions
She delivered the address at the Freedom Awards Dinner of the Tennessee State Conference NAACP's 80th Annual State Convention in Memphis. She is the first person to hold the title of President and CEO in NCNW's history, and since taking the helm in March 2023 she has led a three-million-member network into a new era of political advocacy — building the Bethune Height Changemakers Pathways program, overseeing a surge past one hundred active college campus sections, and running the Freedom to Learn activation in Washington with the African American Policy Forum. Her career is 21 years across public health, DEI, government affairs and executive strategy: senior advisor and director of external engagement in the Obama Administration's Department of Health & Human Services for the 19th U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. Vice Admiral Vivek H. Murthy; six years at NAACP national headquarters as Executive Vice President of Strategic Planning and Partnerships and, before that, Chief of Staff. She spoke from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial at the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington, was the youngest person ever to keynote the King Center's Martin Luther King, Jr. Beloved Community Commemorative Service, and delivered the MLK Day keynote sermon at Washington National Cathedral. A southern New Jersey native, she holds a bachelor's in exercise science and a Master of Public Health from Tulane, and a Master of Divinity from the Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology at Virginia Union University, where she was ordained. She is a wife to Andrew Bradley and a mother of two.
Chair of the Board
Dr. A. Lois Keith
National Chair, NCNW · Legacy Life Member & Bethune Achiever
Elected National Vice President at NCNW's 57th National Convention in 2016 and appointed again in 2022, Dr. Keith served as National Membership Chair under both Dr. Dorothy I. Height and Ingrid Saunders Jones. Outside the Council she is a career educator — thirty years teaching in the Henry County, Georgia school system, math department chair, twice Teacher of the Year — and she gave the keynote at the dedication of Georgia's first public Dorothy I. Height Elementary School.
Why Labor Should Know NCNW
Read their priorities and you are reading a union agenda: economic stability, financial literacy, entrepreneurship, health access, civic engagement. A teachers' union is one of their national affiliates. The first Black U.S. Secretary of Labor was one of their leaders. And the woman running it spent six years inside NAACP headquarters before she got there — which is exactly why she was the voice at the Tennessee NAACP's 80th convention, and why organized labor in Memphis should know her name.
A Community Partner of Labor Education
Labor Education features the National Council of Negro Women as a community partner. No joint programming has been announced — this page is a spotlight, not an agreement. NCNW's national office can be reached at 202-737-0120 or info@ncnw.org, and sections operate in cities and on campuses across the country.
Connect with National Council of Negro Women
Want to get involved, partner, or learn more? Reach out through their website.
