Once on track to be a doctor, Eboni Preston’s awareness of social challenges led her to redirect her passion. At Greening Youth, she educates children and young adults about the outdoors and their environment, connecting them to food-growing programs, internships, and mentorships that fuel their own passions. Her goal: teach the next generation of environmentalists.

Eboni’s CEO nominated her for a spot in the American Express Leadership Academy, a program where CCL partners with nonprofit leaders to help unlock their full potential. Through this experience, Eboni learned how to delegate and instill in every team member a stronger sense of pride and ownership in their accomplishments. Now as a true team, Eboni and her staff can achieve their goal of teaching youth to be a part of the conversation.

MANA de San Diego is the city’s leading Latina leadership organization, providing mentorship and scholarship programs that help Latina students fulfill their educational promise. These women are often the first in their families to pursue upward mobility. Because of this, they often lack role models and mentors to help them navigate their careers, especially given the underrepresentation of Latinas in business, civic, and government leadership.

MANA partnered with CCL on an innovative initiative designed to close the gap in representation: the Latina Success Leadership Program (LSLP). Designed around the women’s unique cultural needs, LSLP encourages Latinas to set ambitious goals, develop valuable business skills, and become business and community leaders. With the confidence gained from these half-day sessions, MANA women have gone on to ask for (and get) promotions, run for public office, earn advanced degrees, and start their own businesses. And participants form a growing network of peers they can tap for support and advice.

The Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation (CCSF) supports young people as they develop into leaders who make significant impacts in the world, providing college scholarships and opportunities for personal and professional growth. CCSF maintains a robust, engaged alumni network, and from here an idea was sparked — how can the Foundation continue to support students as they transition into college and professional life?

As an answer, the Foundation partnered with CCL to create the Scholar Coaching Initiative, which adds further leadership development opportunities and personalized coaching from alumni and CCSF staff. Coaches receive valuable professional development from CCL, learning how to build a meaningful coaching framework with their students. In turn, the students benefit from regular mentorship. After a successful pilot program, CCSF has been gradually rolling out the Initiative on a larger scale, ensuring the next generation of scholars is ready to change the world.

Angela Gray’s West Virginia community is more than just her home — it’s her people. The public health department nursing director has always considered lifting up others in her community as part of her duty, especially amid an opioid epidemic. Seeing others suffer, Angela began working hard to reduce self-harm in the community.

Then, Angela won a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation which provided access to a 2-year CCL program. The experience, with its emphasis in empathetic listening and digging deeply into behavior, completely changed her perspective. The second year focused on a specific project through which Angela created a new harm reduction/syringe exchange program that’s already proving to be effective. For Angela, this isn’t just a job. It’s a lifetime commitment to the place and people she loves.