Member Spotlight on Center for Ehtical Leadership

In this month’s newsletter, we are excited to cast the Member Spotlight on two invaluable members of, and contributors to the Leadership Learning Community (LLC) - Dale Nienow, Executive Director and Karma Ruder, Director of Community Collaboration, and their organization, the Center for Ethical Leadership. Karma and Dale have been long-time, committed members of the LLC. They serve as the official conveners of the Seattle LLC Circle and have organized a number of meetings over the last few years. In March of this year, they co-hosted (with four other organizations) a well-attended Seattle LLC Circle on “A Conversation about Leadership and Race” that was organized around the work of LLC’s Leadership for a New Era Initiative Leadership and Race piece. And at this year’s GEO conference, Dale agreed to join as one of the panel participants in a workshop organized and facilitated by LLC Executive Director, Deborah Meehan, on Collective Leadership: Nurturing Vibrant Organizations and Catalyzing Community Change. Karma and Dale were both integral to the design and facilitation of Creating Space VIII that took place in Baltimore. On the other hand, they have been integral participants at many LLC convening’s where their contributions are always rich, thoughtful, thought provoking and insightful. Dale and Karma always bring a spirit of generous sharing to any project or convening and we are pleased to shine the “spotlight” on them and their work.

The Center for Ethical Leadership, based in Seattle, Washington is a national nonprofit with a track record of advancing social change. The staff brings experience from working in multiple sectors to cultivate leadership and build capacity, helping organizations and communities tap collective wisdom in service of the common good. They invite people to reach across boundaries, build trust, and lead from their core values to advance change. By convening diverse perspectives—especially those historically excluded—they are creating healthier, more just, and inclusive communities in the Pacific Northwest and across the country. Begun almost 20 years ago, the Center has engaged more than 15,000 people in 30 states.

The sweet spot of the Center’s work is combining Gracious Space and collective leadership development to support ongoing leadership and change initiatives. Gracious Space, which the Center defines as a spirit and setting where they invite the stranger and learn in public, creates transformative space that supports significant change. Over the last 8 years, the Center has served as an intermediary for the W.K. Kellogg Foundation’s groundbreaking work in collective place-based leadership development called Kellogg Leadership for Community Change. This work is now transitioning into the Community Learning Exchange (CLE), a program that breaks isolation among local, place-based activists and supports knowledge sharing and mutual support through virtual and in-place gatherings. The sixth CLE was held in South Texas and hosted by the Llano Grande Center and La Union Del Pueblo Entero on the topic “Collective Leadership and Systems Change: Examining Poverty, Practice and Policy.”