“I believe that in order to create the Beloved Community – a world with true racial equity and justice, we need to acknowledge our historical roots of deep racial animus coupled with the belief in manifest destiny, and then build cohesive cross-racial constituencies and networks to withstand attempts at bifurcation.”

Dr. Elana Needle is the founder and principal consultant at Needle Strategies LLC. She formed Needle Strategies after serving as the Racial Equity Anchor Collaboration Director at UnidosUS where she brought nine nationally preeminent racial justice organizations (Anchors*) together to work on short- and long-term collaborative projects to move the needle on racial equity in the US.

Elana leverages her professional experience to teach the next generation of movement leaders by serving as an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Silver School of Social Work, New York University. Dr. Needle teaches her classes from a critical race and intersectional perspective, infusing structural racism knowledge into each lecture. And, she challenges students to understand their privilege and how that impacts policies and movements.

Elana received her B.A. in Women’s Studies and an M.A. in Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning both from Tufts University, and her PhD from Stony Brook University, in Social Welfare. Elana’s dissertation research focused on childhood obesity in the school food context, using a social determinants of health analytical frame with specific explorations of the intersections of race, class and gender. 

Elana sits on the board of SmartRecovery NYC, and is an advisory board member for the Footage Foundation.

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* The Anchors are comprised of the following organizations: Advancement Project, National Office, Asian Pacific Islander American Health Forum, Demos, Faith in Action, NAACP, National Congress of American Indians, National Urban League, Race Forward and UnidosUS.