Cohort Sistas, Inc.

A nonprofit organization

Cohort Sistas is a digital network that supports Black women and non-binary people pursuing doctoral studies by providing resources, mentorship, and community to improve academic, professional, financial, and emotional outcomes. Founded in July 2020, Cohort Sistas has nearly 2000 members across academic disciplines from all around the world. Dedicated to equipping Black women currently pursuing or interested in pursuing doctoral education with the knowledge, support, and community they need to thrive in the Ivory Tower, Cohort Sistas works to increase the number of Black women who matriculate and complete doctoral degree programs while reducing the undue financial and emotional burden of doctoral education.

Why We Exist

Black doctorates are not only poorly represented amongst all doctoral degree earners, but also have worse financial and educational outcomes than other racial-ethnic groups. According to the National Survey of Earned Doctorates, 1,832 non-Hispanic Black women earned doctorates in the United States in 2019, representing only 3.29% of all doctorates awarded.1 Despite recent increases over the last several years, Black graduate enrollment is trailing behind other historically underrepresented groups; while the Latinx total graduate enrollment grew on average by 5.8% annually over the last ten years, the total enrollment of Black/African American students grew only by 0.3% each year on average.2 In addition, Black doctoral degree holders take longer to complete their degrees, are more likely to self-fund their education and accrue more debt than their white counterparts.3 Our independent research with Cohort Sistas members reveals that Black women pursuing doctoral education face numerous barriers to entry and success, including lack of academic or professional support, limiting interpersonal factors, lack of community, macro racial and gendered factors, and financial challenges.

What We Do

Our programming is organized around three pillars: resources, mentorship, and community.

Resources: Cohort Sistas provides academic and professional resources to help current and future Black women better understand strategies for success in doctoral education and beyond, primarily in the form of monthly professional development seminars with guest speakers and a weekly podcast that features the stories of struggle and success of Black women from various academic disciplines and careers who have completed doctoral programs. To address the financial challenges of pursuing doctoral education, we also regularly curate and share different scholarship and fellowship opportunities for our members.

Mentorship: The Sista Circle Mentorship Program provides small-group mentoring to Cohort Sistas members who are current and future doctoral students. We believe that horizontal mentorship and support are just as important as vertical mentorship, so we group 3 to 4 mentees together to form a Sista Circle led by a single mentor, grouped by academic discipline or special circumstance (ie. international students or part-time students). Mental and financial health are just as important to doctoral success as academic and professional achievement, so we provide additional training, events, workshops, and perks to support the academic, professional, and personal development of Sista Circle mentees.

Community: The Cohort Sistas member site allows members to seek advice, share opportunities, and connect with one another by academic discipline or geographic location. In addition to the platform itself, we host monthly virtual social events where Cohort Sistas members can network and solicit advice. 



1. National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES). 2020. Doctorate Recipients from U.S. Universities: 2019. NSF 21-308. Alexandria, VA: National Science Foundation. Available at https://ncses.nsf.gov/pubs/nsf21308/.

2. Okahana, H., Zhou, E., & Gao, J. (2020). Graduate enrollment and degrees: 2009 to 2019. Washington, DC: Council of Graduate Schools.

3. National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES). 2020. Doctorate Recipients from U.S. Universities: 2019.

Organization Data

Summary

Organization name

Cohort Sistas, Inc.

Tax id (EIN)

86-1674110

Categories

Education Community

Address

254 Chapman Rd Ste 208 #4450
Newark, DE 19702

Phone

8623500031

Social Media