Emergence Black Leadership Institute (EBLI)
Nurturing the Next Generation of Black Healthcare Leaders
EBLI is a training institute for emerging Black leaders in healthcare. The program is facilitated by EBLI’s Principal, Hakima Tafunzi Payne MSN RN and directed by operations and media consultant, Sandra M. Thornhill, MPA. EBLI seeks to dismantle systemic racism within healthcare systems, and cultivate leaders prepared to champion equity and social justice.
​
EBLI is a year-long training and mentoring program for emerging Black healthcare leaders that meets monthly for personal development, skill building, networking and visioning for a healthcare system built to serve Black Americans in an equitable and just manner.
The 2026-2027 session will begin June 2026 and end May 2027. The sessions will take place live online and participants will meet in person during the first and last sessions. Applicants may apply for one of 12 seats available during the 2026-2027 session. Applicants must self-identify as Black or African-American, be early or midcareer within the healthcare industry, and have the support of their workplace and immediate supervisor and must be prepared to travel to Kansas City, MO for the first and last meetings. ​
​Mission of EBLI
Cultivate health equity through Black leadership development and promotion
Vision of EBLI​
A healthcare system unencumbered by anti-Black racism
​
Purpose of EBLI
The purpose of EBLI is to invest in and build the next generation of Black healthcare leaders for an equitable and antiracist impact on healthcare systems
Goal of EBLI
The goal of this training is to cultivate leaders ready to dismantle white supremacy and anti-Black racism in order to create a healthcare system better prepared to meet the healthcare needs of Black Americans.
Curriculum
The curriculum is written and facilitated by Hakima Payne. Reading materials include the books: The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz and The Courage to be Disliked by Ichiro Kishimi.
Topics covered include:
-
Healthcare in Black and White; a system built on anti-Back racism
-
Systems Transformation; visioning for a better future
-
Black Faces in White Spaces; the art of codeswitching
-
Silence, Solitude and Self-Care; creating change without sacrificing self
-
The Five Levels of Racism; a framework for understanding the impacts of racism
Our monthly meet-ups will include experiential learning and real world assignments that ask participants to utilize their own work spaces as living labs for exploring our topics for learning and proposed solutions. Participants will be asked to design a project for their workplace that builds or contributes to increased health equity over the course of their year in the program. An overview of projects and graduation ceremony will be held during the final gathering.