Sondra Samuels

Sondra Samuels is the President and CEO of the Northside Achievement Zone (NAZ). Along with parents, students, partners, and staff, Sondra is leading a revolutionary culture shift in North Minneapolis that is focused on ending multi-generational poverty through education and family stability. The NAZ Collaborative, made up of 43 partner non-profits and schools, is working toward a single goal—to prepare North Minneapolis children from families with low incomes to graduate from high school ready for college. NAZ has scaled up in support of more than 1,000 parents and 2,300 students as they turn the social service model on its head and lead the creation of a college-bound culture throughout the community. Ms. Samuels is a 19-year resident of North Minneapolis and a national leader committed to results-based accountability. She and her team work tirelessly to ensure the integration of effective cradle-to-career solutions across the NAZ collaborative; to scale and sustain results across the community; and to achieve the systems and policy changes needed for families and children of color to truly share in the prosperity of the Twin Cities Region. Under her leadership, NAZ was named a federal Promise Neighborhood and has become a nationally recognized model for comprehensive community development and systems change. She also serves on the leadership team of Generation Next, the Minnesota Private College Council board of directors, and the 2018 Super Bowl Host Committee Advisory Board. She was also appointed to serve on the Hennepin County Forth Judicial Selection Commission.