Blog

We were heartened by the response to the “Transforming White Privilege: A 21st Century Leadership Capacity” webinar with over 540 registrants.  This is even more significant after a year of divisive elections in which fear or anger was expressed and generated towards whole groups of people based on religion, race, sexual orientation and gender. There can be little doubt that we are profoundly in need of leaders who can bridge these divides with an understanding of why and how opportunities have been historically distributed in this country in ways that have unfairly disadvantaged people of color and low income white people. Leadership programs have a historic opportunity to help leaders build their confidence and capacity to see, name and address the underlying white privilege and its consequences, opening up a different kind of society based on belonging, fairness, and equity.

 read more »

After several attempts at writing something about the election, I realized I remain too angry, confused and fearful. I think a little background might shed light on my reaction. I was born to parents who both survived death camps in Germany and Poland, who met in a displaced persons camp in Feldafing, Germany and where I was born in 1947. We arrived in the U.S. as “stateless” refugees. I grew up surrounded by those who were survivors, I heard stories, saw photographs and became acutely aware of the power of words. These last few months leading up to the election echoed some of the stories demonizing the “other” that I heard throughout my childhood. I knew there was no choice, but to step up, speak up and do what I could to stem the tide of injustice toward those perceived as “other.” read more »

In the past, we’ve highlighted the work of Community Connections as a model for us to learn from. We even worked together to host our last Creating Space together. As many of you may recall, Community Connections works to empower communities to create change by granting funds to local projects. Their model requires community-led proposal analyses via panels. They grant on average between $500-$5,000 for projects and these seed funds, in turn, create avenues for nontraditional leadership development. Being on the ground, Community Connections develops individuals and teams as part of whole communities. They meet individuals where they are and respond quickly to the needs of six specific neighborhoods in Detroit, Michigan. read more »

When I reluctantly read the newspaper these days, I am sadly reminded of how desperately we need leadership (and lots of it) that can bring us together to heal the divides, close the wealth gap, and stop our destruction of the planet. Although there are thousands of social sector leadership programs in the country we reach and support only a small fraction of people who want to lead.

I like ‘what if’ statements, so here it goes. Most of us are working on problems of such magnitude, we have to operate from the frame that all we can do is ‘our part’ and we hope that if we are strategic about it that our piece of the work, along with the efforts of others, will get us where we are hoping to go. I get this. And, I also wonder how we are going to change the world, one leader at a time, reaching thousands when we need to mobilize millions. What if we were to individually and collectively challenge ourselves to figure out how we can support and unleash the energy of everyone who wants to take action with others to make the world a more equitable, sane and sustainable place where all can thrive? read more »