Cascade Leadership

Growing Leaders, Strengthening Communities

Our work

Three programs.
One continuous path.

Cascade Leadership → Transformation

Women who once needed help getting started become the women helping others begin.

What is Cascade Leadership

Shona ba shona — shoulder to shoulder.

Our goal is to create conditions where leadership multiplies like a cascading waterfall. Powerful intergenerational leadership at AA+ flows outward—one woman’s knowledge, confidence, and opportunity strengthening the women around her. Leadership means mentoring more leaders: recognizing potential, creating opportunities to contribute, and valuing what every woman brings. AA+ provides training and career-building opportunities at every level—empowering Afghan women and girls to become change-makers in their families, neighborhoods, workplaces, and beyond. Shona Ba Shona—Shoulder to Shoulder brings Afghan women together with American neighbors and partners, combining lived experience, professional expertise & community connections.

LEARN → LEAD → LIFT OTHERS

By the numbers

Leadership exists at every level.

Peer mentors, neighbors, teachers, and community partners contribute and collaborate. Leadership at AA+ is always shona ba shona — shoulder to shoulder.

Students reporting increased confidence to share ideas and engage publicly

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AA+ leadership, board, and staff are educated Afghan women

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Afghan women earned 1st driver’s license → transportation independence

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Enrollment growth in a single year — led by alumni recruitment

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OUR SUCCESSES

Leadership begins where you are

Learner → Neighbor → Student Leader

Leadership at AA+ doesn’t require fluent English, a degree, or a title. Students who begin with little or no formal education bring intelligence, determination & valuable life experience as community organizers.

Neighborhood Pods create natural opportunities to lead:

Welcome & recruit new students
Share devices & digital skills with peers
Encourage classmates to study, participate and persist
Help organize neighborhood gatherings and field trips
Bring daughters on Compass Connection fieldtrips
Represent AA+ students, speak at advocacy events

“This class helped me, so I told my neighbors. I am the student leader and work with my teacher to organize other ladies who can’t read yet. It is never too late to learn.”
— Zuhal, Wings Student Leader

CAREER BUILDING

Professional talent In Motion

Expertise → Opportunity → Network

Educated, multilingual Afghan women lead AA+ as teachers, staff specialists, and board members. They gain U.S. work experience, expand professional networks, and model leadership for students. We see talent before perfect English—elevating those with expertise, lived experience, and passion for our work. Community partners know AA+ as a trusted source of emerging talent.

Expand talent through:

Professional development
Networking at conferences, coalitions and community forums
Public speaking and advocacy
Workforce development, economic inclusion for immigrants and foreign-trained professionals
Leadership roles in strategy, programs and partnerships

“Attending a conference with colleagues from across the country opened my eyes. I learned strategies to develop my career as a programmer. We all started over from zero when we came to the U.S. I’m motivated to show my students every opportunity education brings.”
— Fatima, Teacher & Technology Lead

cascades network

Leadership cascades outward

Individual Growth → Community Impact → Shona Ba Shona

Our goal is to create conditions where leadership multiplies. Students organize neighbors, mentor new learners & model education for their children. Staff contribute their expertise professionally and civically. AA+ leaders bring Afghan women’s voices to regional and national conversations about education, workforce development, immigrant economic inclusion, and belonging.

Leadership doesn’t stop with one woman. It cascades through families, classrooms, careers, neighborhoods, communities, across the nation, and around the world.

Join us

Empower
women, transform communities.

Our long waitlist reflects a rapidly growing demand for services; your support enables us to reach more Afghan women—eager to learn, build confidence, and create better futures for themselves and their families.

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Brief updates from the field