The 2023 Nonprofit Power 100

1. Michelle Jackson

Executive Director, Human Services Council

Michelle Jackson has a clear message for New York government leaders: Invest more in the nonprofit social services providers or there will be dire consequences. The executive director of the Human Services Council led this spring’s “day without human services,” during which over 100 nonprofits stopped parts of their services to show what would happen if funding wasn’t boosted for salaries and employees left. The push for funding increases in New York City comes after this year’s state budget included a 4% cost-of-living raise for human service workers paid through state contracts.

2. Twyla Carter

Attorney-in-Chief and CEO, The Legal Aid Society

Under Twyla Carter’s leadership, The Legal Aid Society is taking on battles both inside and outside of the courtroom. The organization partnered with the American Civil Liberties Union and state Attorney General Letitia James on the policing of protests, a move that was later canceled when the PBA declined to approve the deal. The organization has been outspoken on such issues as protecting the city’s right-to-shelter law, the need for federal receivership over Rikers Island and the number of eviction cases an attorney in the city’s right to counsel program can effectively take on in Housing Court.