Jade Rodgers
Americorps Manager, 916 Ink and Founder, Jadesirëe Consulting
This story is part of our July 2023 Young Professionals print issue. To subscribe, click here.
This story is part of our July 2023 Young Professionals print issue. To subscribe, click here.
When it comes to navigating life and work, 916 Ink’s Jade Rodgers is a firm believer in “ubuntu,” an African word meaning “my humanity is tied to yours.” “Our experience in this life is interconnected,” she says.
It’s a philosophy that has guided her throughout her career for over 15 years, to her current roles as AmeriCorps manager for the Sacramento arts-based literacy nonprofit, and as owner of Jadesiree Consulting, dedicated to helping Black and Brown nonprofits succeed. “My outlook is, I’m just going to try my best today and see that humanity in everyone,” explains Rodgers. “Change takes time. That’s what I’ve learned. A lot of healing has to happen first.”
916 Ink operates on the idea that healing can occur through authentic self-expression in creative writing. Team members visit schools, communities, youth detention centers and other locations in under-resourced areas across the Sacramento region to provide literacy tutoring and creative writing workshops, with the goal of raising literacy rates, helping students meet grade level standards and fostering self-confidence.
“Literacy and reading comprehension are skills you need for a
lifetime. If you have anything counting against you that may
affect access to learning those skills — your race or
socioeconomic status, your family, your trauma — that has a huge
effect on things.” – Jade Rodgers
As the AmeriCorps manager, Rodgers is responsible for general oversight of the 916 STEAM Academy AmeriCorps program. The year-long service program, developed in partnership with the local education nonprofit Square Root Academy, addresses literacy and STEM education for K-12 students along with digital art design.
“Literacy and reading comprehension are skills you need for a lifetime,” she says. “If you have anything counting against you that may affect access to learning those skills — your race or socioeconomic status, your family, your trauma — that has a huge effect on things.”
Providing equal access to education has always been a focal point for Rodgers. Growing up in Sacramento, she ventured to Minnesota and pursued a double major in psychology and reconciliation studies at Bethel University in 2008. Through the program she was able to spend six months in South Africa learning about the impact of apartheid on youth and their communities.
“I worked with kids in schools, kids dealing with addiction and families dealing with domestic violence,” she says. The experience pointed her towards her true calling: “Healing and humanity is my foundation.”
After completing her studies, Rodgers joined AmeriCorps in New Orleans, where she worked in youth education and mentoring roles before returning to Sacramento in 2012. At the education nonprofit Improve Your Tomorrow, she pursued grant writing and fundraising, and began consulting in the community on various small projects, inspiring Rodgers to launch her own business, Jadesiree Consulting, in 2014.
“I kept hearing from Black and Brown nonprofits locally that they don’t have access to learn how to run a sustainable business,” she shares. “That’s where I come in.” Rodgers helps clients learn critical skills like proposal writing, structuring a board, communicating with potential funders, DEI and strategic planning.
Last year she had the opportunity to work with Sacramento State University on Focused Time Circles, a project that brought together faculty, staff, students and administrators to “engage in challenging conversations about power, privilege, bias, intersectional identities, and lived experiences on campus,” says Rodgers. “So that was cool because I was able to facilitate and have some hard, brave conversations with people there.”
A self-professed ambivert, Rodgers prefers to work behind the scenes one-on-one rather than being up front making speeches. “I need my people, but I also need to take care of myself,” she laughs.
But you might find her on a different kind of stage. She enjoys performing as a jazz singer and ukulele player. She’s been busy writing her own music and has plans to come out with an EP in the next couple years. “Being at 916 Ink has really reignited my own creativity.”
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