Nia K. Evans

Nectar Community Investments has welcomed Boston Ujima Project executive director Nia K. Evans as a new board member to be part of their organization. Evans’ role at the Boston Ujima Project focuses on bringing together neighbors, workers, business owners, and investors in Greater Boston to build a community-controlled economy. According to Evans, the Boston Ujima Project has “made history as the nation’s first democratically governed investment fund.”

Originally from Gardena, California, Evans went to Cornell University and earned a bachelor’s degree in industrial and labor relations at the ILR School and obtained a master’s degree in education leadership, including a program of study in leadership, policy, and politics from the Teachers College at Columbia University. Evans also studied abroad at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, focusing on international labor relations.

Evans’ educational background in labor relations, education leadership and policy gives her strong skills in being a leader towards serving the community. Her work centers on removing the barriers between analysts and people with lived experiences while also taking into consideration the value of diverse areas of expertise in policy. She is a co-creator of Frames Debate Project, which is a multimedia policy debate program that examines the convergence between drug policy, mental health services, and incarceration in Massachusetts.