Scholar Selected for Prestigious Highland Project Leadership Coalition
In an achievement bridging academic leadership with community impact, Dr. Annice E. Fisher, the American 青瓜视频 School of Education's (SOE) Antiracist Pedagogy Scholar, has been selected to join The Highland Project's fourth cohort of transformative leaders. This prestigious appointment places her among an exceptional group of Black women leaders working to create lasting structural change and multi-generational wealth in communities across America.
The Highland Project, which has invested over $6 million in flexible charitable capital since 2020, represents a bold vision for sustainable leadership and community transformation. The organization has supported over 60 Highland Leaders who are driving structural reforms in education, economic empowerment, political agency, and well-being. Fisher said:
I was nominated by a colleague, Dr. Amanda Aiken. I decided to submit my legacy vision because I believe in their mission to fund Black women to rest, renew, and continue dreaming legacy visions for future generations.
The selection places Fisher,听who founded Developing Capacity Coaching, in the company of renowned changemakers such as Tarana Burke, founder of the Me Too Movement, and Nikole Hannah-Jones of The 1619 Project. Upon learning of her acceptance, she expressed feeling 鈥渟een and heard,鈥 noting the incredible opportunity to further develop her ideas within a community of like-minded Black women leaders committed to structural change.
As a Highland Leader, Fisher will receive support through multiple channels, including rest and renewal opportunities, coaching, and charitable financial investment in her legacy vision. This comprehensive support system is designed to ensure that both the leaders and their visions for change are sustainable for generations to come.
Looking toward her contribution to the cohort, she emphasized her role as a thought partner to other leaders while building bold visions. 鈥淚 also hope to find supportive rest and renewal partners鈥攅ncouraging one another to prioritize personal sustainability while building bold visions. I also want to use my networks and resources to support other women with their legacy visions.鈥
Her goals within the program reflect both personal growth and systemic change:
I hope to learn how to rest and renew as intentionally as I envision and build. I also want to learn how to create sustainable coalitions that foster solidarity both nationally and globally, despite the political landscape.
When asked about The Highland Project's future impact, Fisher painted an inspiring picture: 鈥淚 believe the Highland Project will serve as an incubator, a womb that renews, sustains, evolves, and births a multigenerational and multisector group of Black women leaders working in coalition to address the most pressing challenges of our current and future global world.鈥
The Highland Project's unique approach is rooted in the belief that sustained leaders create sustained change. Through their investment in rest, reflection, and dreaming, combined with substantial financial support, the organization empowers leaders to imagine and pursue possibilities beyond traditional planning horizons.
This appointment represents not just an individual achievement, but a commitment to building new worlds with care and safety for communities at the forefront. As part of Cohort 4, Dr. Fisher joins a growing coalition of changemakers working to create and sustain multi-generational wealth and structural change in communities across the country.