Delores Morton leads Step Up’s push to expand youth empowerment

Step Up CEO Delores Morton is steering the nonprofit’s national work with young women through mentorship, confidence-building and career-readiness programs. Her leadership comes as the organization adapts to economic pressure, mental health challenges and fast-changing workforce demands.

Why it matters: - Step Up’s work reaches young women moving from high school into early career stages, a period when access to mentorship and networks can shape long-term outcomes. - Morton’s approach centers on equity, inclusion and opportunity, with an emphasis on helping young women build confidence and career readiness. - The nonprofit is positioning itself to address workforce disruption, financial pressure and mental health strain at the same time.

What happened: - Delores Morton serves as chief executive officer of Step Up. - Morton has expanded Step Up’s national footprint and deepened the organization’s programmatic impact. - Step Up now places greater emphasis on mentorship access, confidence-building and identity development alongside professional readiness. - Morton was featured by Influential Women in a profile published on July 6, 2026. - The full profile is available here.

The details: - Morton has more than two decades of nonprofit leadership experience. - Before Step Up, Morton held senior leadership roles at Points of Light and City Year. - Those roles focused on volunteerism, education and community impact. - Morton’s background includes strategic planning, program development, fundraising and organizational leadership. - Step Up’s programming for young women now addresses the transition from school to work with a broader view of support. - The organization’s model also recognizes the role of economic insecurity, mental health pressures and emerging technologies in shaping young women’s career paths. - Morton sees mentorship, access and representation as essential ingredients for success. - Morton links opportunity to intentional ecosystems that connect people to guidance, networks and resources. - Morton also serves on nonprofit boards tied to social justice and economic opportunity.

Between the lines: - Morton’s leadership philosophy reflects a shift from one-off support to systems that create repeatable access. - Her emphasis on collaboration and inclusive culture suggests Step Up is trying to strengthen internal operations while keeping external outcomes central. - Her message about acting before feeling fully ready mirrors a broader leadership style that favors learning through experience over perfectionism. - Morton’s own limited access to mentors and professional networks appears to shape her focus on opening doors for others. - Her focus on joy and integrity points to a leadership model that treats resilience as part of long-term performance, not a soft add-on.

What's next: - Morton says the current moment is full of opportunity if organizations stay adaptive, community-centered and trust-based. - Step Up is likely to keep evolving its programs as young women face shifting workforce expectations and technological change. - Morton’s stated priority is to help close equity gaps by pairing support with access to networks, guidance and opportunity.

The bottom line: - Morton’s work at Step Up is built around a simple idea: leadership is measured by how many doors it opens for the next generation.