In our document review and interviews with WKKF program staff and grantees we were often presented with the challenges faced by those who are committed to involving new voices in community change. Engaging new voices is difficult, time-consuming work, which is, in part, why these voices have not traditionally been heard.

We have alluded to many of these challenges throughout this paper including:

• The lack of personal resources to enable individuals to participate in leadership development;
• The difficulty of obtaining reliable, accessible information; and
• The economic and social disadvantage of some new voices.

In this section of the report we highlight some additional challenges to involving new leaders in sustainable community change. We have organized these challenges into the following categories:

• Renewing and expanding new leadership voices;
• Sustaining new voices and innovative organizations for change;
• Creating leadership opportunities through community economic development;
• Spanning boundaries between existing and new leaders;
• Institutional and political barriers;
• Entrenched prejudices and inequalities; and,
• Creating integrated and layered levels of activism

Renewing and expanding new leadership voices

Joy DesMarais spoke about the commitment it takes for the National Youth Leadership Council to identify and engage young people in their organization. She noted how hard it was to build what she called a "cascading model" in which young people at all different stages of development are ready to step up when older members of the group are ready to move on. More typical is the cultivation of a group of young people who come into the program at the same time and who move on at the same time. This recently happened to NYLC when they lost all but one of their young leaders.

One challenge we heard frequently is the difficulty of creating organizational structures and processes that can continually identify, nurture, and support the emergence of new leaders. Often there is some catalyst that drives an organization to reach out to new voices - such as an expectation that the Kellogg Foundation may have of a prospective grantee. New voices will be engaged, but there is not necessarily an on-going organizational commitment to nurturing new voices. A new voice is only "new" for a period of time; therefore, truly engaging these voices requires an on-going commitment that many organizations do not have the time, knowledge, resources or desire to make.

Some organizations have made the commitment to involving new voices, and still they find it very difficult to sustain. One WKKF Program Director said it is challenging to involve new voices continually in programs because the lack of continuity of leadership and participation makes forming relationships more difficult.

Another related challenge for organizations is to continually examine what new voices need to be involved. For instance, Ms. DesMarais mentioned that in her organization they had a very heterogeneous group of young people with regards to gender and race but very homogeneous in terms of class. NYLC is taking the opportunity of having a large group of young leaders move on to consider ways that it can reach out to, and support, young leaders who are living in more challenging economic circumstances.

Several interviewees spoke about groups of people who were not yet being reached even though the initiative's commitment is to cultivate new voices. WKKF Program Director Freddye Webb-Pettet, who leads MSDI, spoke about how difficult it is for small rural communities to recognize that diversity might be something other than black and white. There are growing Asian and Hispanic populations in the rural South that are not present in discussions about their communities. Young people have also not been actively engaged because of an attitude among adults that "young people should be seen and not heard." Expanding people's perceptions of who should be at the table takes time and requires vigilance on the part of the group to continually identify those populations that remain marginalized.

Sustaining new voices and innovative organizations for change

When new voices speak, they are often advocates for change to existing systems that are not meeting the needs of individuals and communities. One of the challenges is how to sustain these voices for change. June Rostan and Carty Monette spoke about the challenges of sustaining leaders in organizations that may be resistant to change. Often leaders are easy targets for those with power who may feel threatened by their presence or perspective. Finding ways to support innovative leaders is critical to their success. There is also a tendency for leaders who once were at the forefront of change movements to find themselves over time resisting including new leadership voices. We heard several stories about how former civil rights leaders were often unwilling to share power with emerging leaders in their communities.

Sometimes individuals are part of efforts that bring positive change for communities; yet, at the same time they create new forms of conformity and exclusion that need to be challenged by new leadership voices. For example, the field of service learning challenged traditional educational practices and then itself became the focus of challenges from new voices who felt it was dominated by a charity perspective of service.

WKKF Program Director Betty Overton said that many institutional changes happen as a result of a specific project. However, she has seen only one or two institutions that have successfully institutionalized a culture of change in which change is valued, integrated, and on-going. Freddye Webb-Pettet made a similar observation when she noted that those organizations or partnerships that are serious about engaging new voices have a vision and long-term plan for sustaining this engagement; it is not "just a project."

Institutionalizing a culture of change that seeks out and supports the engagement of new leadership voices is a difficult challenge. Several program directors and grantees believe the best way to address this challenge is by making a commitment to engage young people. Young people, when given the opportunity, are and will likely always be, voices for change.

Another strategy for sustaining a culture of change is to help community-based organizations, the vehicles through which much change work gets done in communities, remain innovative and supportive of change. We have found in our interviews that there is a strong interest in how to sustain innovative, inclusive organizations not as ends in themselves but as vibrant forums where people come together to work on a common agenda to address a shared concern. Organizations tend to want to solidify and continue doing what they do well rather than create a culture of risk-taking and innovation. Key to keeping organizations dynamic is bringing in new voices, and providing leadership opportunities.

Creating leadership opportunities through community economic development

The sustainability of communities depends on economic development. In many communities there are too few opportunities for people to engage in productive, meaningful, and remunerative activity. This presents a challenge for engaging and developing new community leadership voices because this lack of opportunity forces new leaders to leave their community in search of a place to use their skills.

Dr. Carty Monette spoke about the lack of economic opportunity on tribal reservations and how important it is to create these opportunities so that young people who are being educated and prepared as leaders have the jobs they need to stay in the community and contribute their skills and abilities. This sentiment was echoed by a Program Director who spoke of a young woman, who after going to a leadership development program outside of her community, chose not to return because the community lacked opportunity for her. This Program Director and the community share a concern about how to create opportunities that will provide an incentive for people to stay. One of the high school students that we spoke with, Nakeisha Perkins, openly acknowledged that as much as she hopes that she will be able to return to her community in Wilcox County, Alabama, after college, she believes that this will not be possible because there simply will not be a job there for her.

In our conversations we often heard that successful community economic development will require much more active participation by the business community. In fact, businesses were often mentioned as a critical "new voice" because they are frequently not at the table when community issues are being addressed. We have found few models where the private sector has been successfully engaged with citizen-based efforts to foster economic development. This is particularly true in the South in poor communities of color where there is a long history of racial division.

Spanning boundaries between existing and new leaders

The effective engagement of new voices requires that existing leaders be willing and capable of sharing power. This is often a challenge for existing leaders who may feel threatened by new voices or lack an appreciation for what new voices bring to the table. WKKF Program Director Chris Kwak spoke of her efforts to try to involve new voices in her work creating a network for the service learning field. She has found that many well-intentioned current leaders have difficulty embracing new leaders and organizations because they view the newcomers as competition, rather than as assets.

A young college student, Nnennia Ejebe, shared her experience as a freshman in college when she was involved in an organization primarily run by upperclassmen. Initially, the upper classmen dismissed her ideas without consideration because she was a "lowly freshman" and she was infringing on their power. Nnennia took a different tact with her next idea. She presented it in such as way as to let the upperclassmen think that it was their idea, therefore leaving them with the power. The upperclassmen soon realized that Nnennia had much to contribute and now openly listen to her and involve her in decision-making. She had proved to them that she was an asset. We found that younger people often needed to prove themselves to adults before the adults were willing to share leadership responsibility.

Even when both existing leaders and current leaders are committed to sharing leadership there are still significant challenges. It is often hard for new leaders to participate in discussions because they are not well versed in the jargon or history of the current group. This is particularly the case when there are only one or two new voices in a larger group of existing voices. Kiira Guftason shared with us the difficulty she encountered as one of only a few young people on the NYLC's board. Initially she had a hard time understanding what the Board was talking about - much of the conversation "was over her head." She also shared that she is often "bored" by the seemingly endless adult conversations that she participates in as a member of the Board.

Conversely, existing leaders sometimes have difficulty understanding the language of the new leadership voices. This is particularly relevant for adults working with youth. Tyrone Baines shared how difficult it is for adults to value young peoples' slang and music, even though this was a critical communication tool for the young people.

Another instance, in which language and cultural differences are a challenge, is between community leaders and established business leaders. Business leaders tend to value action-oriented language and processes. The way that they typically do business is very different than the longer timeframe and more inclusive process of community efforts. This difference in language and culture often causes business "new voices" to drop out of community processes.

Institutional and political barriers.

Government rules and regulations, and other institutional policies, can be a significant barrier to engaging the participation of those who are most disadvantaged. Barbara Sabol and Alice Warner shared two such stories from the Devolution Initiative. The first story involves a mother who was recently released from prison. When released she had so many required commitments (probation meetings, parent-teacher meetings, TANF meetings, etc.) that it was very difficult for her to manage all of her commitments and participate in advocacy efforts to change these policies. In another case, a man in New Mexico was participating in a leadership development program that provided a small stipend. This stipend was going to negatively affect his eligibility for public assistance therefore his participation in the program was in jeopardy. In both of these cases, institutional policies and practices interfered with the ability of these individuals to participate as active citizens.

In some cases, it is not only the policies that are problematic for new voices, but the policy-makers.

Cheryl Threadgill noted that sometimes those that need the training in how to share power and engage the community the most are the ones who refuse to get it. Ms. Threadgill shared how the lack of effort and responsibility of those in power in Wilcox County has created a cycle of harm for the area. She noted that Wilcox County has the lowest level of tax support for schools in the nation and the elected officials refuse to "step up to the plate" and address this issue. This lack of commitment by the government has created mistrust among citizens; therefore, they do not want to increase taxes for schools because they do not think that the funds will be properly spent. In addition, businesses will not come to the county because the schools are so bad. In turn, there is little economic opportunity, so there is not revenue to improve the community, and there are few opportunities for community members.

Derron Parks, after participating in a successful effort to change legislation that prohibited young people from serving on non-profit boards, encountered a roadblock in an effort to have a student appointed to the Michigan State University Board. The Michigan Attorney General used what Mr. Parks thought was a spurious excuse when he announced that students could not sit on the University Board because it would present a "conflict of interest."

Finally, Dr. Carty Monette shared with us that tribal politics has serious repercussions for involving new voices because tribes are often resistant to change, outsiders, and young voices.

Entrenched prejudices and inequalities

Engaging those from traditionally underrepresented or "marginalized" communities in leadership efforts requires addressing historically entrenched prejudices and inequalities. In our conversations, the following three "isms" were most often identified as presenting barriers to involving new voices in decision-making processes: racism, classism, and adultism.

Racism, particularly in the South, is a huge barrier to engaging new voices in decision-making. Because there exists such a long history of discrimination and institutionalized racism, there are deep wounds and feelings of mistrust.

June Rostan shared the racial challenges that the Southern Empowerment Project, an organization that trains community organizers, faces. In many instances participation in SEP programs is the first time that many blacks and whites have engaged each other in meaningful communication. There is significant distrust between the groups that must be overcome. The SEP has worked hard to help white participants understand how they benefit and maintain white privilege. This notion of white privilege is often very challenging and difficult for whites to grasp because it is a concept that holds white people accountable for the perpetuation of racism and inequality. This concept empowers blacks and whites to have a different conversation about race.

Even in instances when diversity is valued, achieving diversity can present a challenge. Betsey Mc Gee, from the Academy for Educational Development, shared how those involved in creating a service-learning leadership network had to change their initial committee structure in order to involve a diverse group. The initial plans for the group were for it to consist of the up-and-coming leaders in the field; however, when this structure proved to be creating an extremely homogenous group, the structure had to be redefined so that the group would be more diverse. Lauren McAlee, a high school student who was also involved in these efforts with Ms. McGee, shared that even with the new structure, they still had difficulty involving young people in the committee. Identifying and involving a diverse group takes time and requires extra effort on the part of the organizers.

Joy DesMarais, with the National Youth Leadership Council and the Diversity YES! Project, spoke about the challenges that she and her organization have had in creating an inclusive leadership group of young people, especially with regards to class. She believes that in our communities, we are least able to raise and discuss issues of class. The result is that we may achieve race/ethnic diversity and gender diversity in our programs, but rarely class diversity. Dealing seriously with issues of class forces an organization to question many of its basic operating assumptions. For instance, whereas middle class people can afford for their children to volunteer, poor young people would be harming their families by not working. There is a great deal of difficulty in raising and dealing fairly with class issues. Young people who do not have sufficient resources to participate are often reluctant to ask for what they need, and privileged young people are likely to feel that they are being treated unfairly if someone else receives assistance and they do not. Working through these issues requires a good deal of time, and a commitment to not just talking about equity and justice but figuring out how to make these authentic in people's interactions with each other.

In our conversations with young people, and those who work closely with young people, we heard much about the challenge of addressing adultism. Adultism is a view, commonly held by adults, that youth lack the experience, knowledge and maturity to be effective leaders. Oftentimes, adults do not trust that youth can act on their own, and see youth as victims that need to be protected, rather than assets that need to be developed and involved in change efforts.

Derron Parks, a college student who has been involved in leadership positions since high school, shared that throughout his leadership efforts he has encountered resistance from adults. He noted that "for the most part it has been a few, select individual adults with open views" that have made for a successful youth engagement. He thinks that adults are resistant to youth because they don't want to give up their territory, don't want to have to deal with youth issues and tend to view youth as troublemakers rather than as assets. Derron posed that if adults had more interaction with youth, and were made aware of what young people are capable of, much of the adultism could be overcome.

WKKF Program Director, Tyrone Baines, echoed many of Derron's points. He noted that during the KYDS Seminars at first the adults discounted the youth ideas. Once they started to listen to youth, the adults tended to compare the youth to their own childhoods, (using "when I was a child…" thinking) which caused them to miss the context of today's youth. Finally, once the adults engaged in meaningful projects with the youth, they understood the value that the young people had to offer.

Creating integrated and layered levels of activism

One of the challenges of systemic change efforts is building the capacity and infrastructure for participation and engagement at the community, state and national levels. The Devolution Initiative has intentionally sought to foster participation, develop knowledge, and build an advocacy infrastructure at the community and state levels, and integrate those with national efforts. Similarly the Turning Point Initiative is strengthening the capacity of local health departments to have a more active voice in discussions of public health policy at the state level.

Sometimes there are conflicts between activists at different levels because their point of view, approaches, and priorities differ. WKKF Program Director Chris Kwak shared with us how in the Learning InDeed initiative there is some conflict between the network of service learning professionals, that is closer to the community, and the Commission, which is a more high-profile, national, lobbying group. Shma Shah, a high school teacher involved in the network, shared with us her feelings about how many in the network really are not grounded in what it means to implement service learning into the day-to-day work of teachers. Learning InDeed was very intentional in creating layers of involvement in order to try to keep the effort rooted in community needs, yet it still has difficulties doing so. In another example, Antoinette Green spoke of how all of the organizations involved in micro enterprise in Mississippi do not even know about each other. This presents a significant challenge for organizing, larger, more regional or national efforts.

In the final section of this report we address what grantees value about the support they have received from the Kellogg Foundation and make recommendations for how the relationship between foundation and grantees can be strengthened so that there is a strong partnership for continuing to support and develop new leaders.