What Impacts are New Leaders Having
The Foundation has supported the development of emerging new leaders with the expectation and desire that they will have a positive impact on the social and economic well-being of communities. While determining the full impact of emerging leadership would require much more extensive investigation than we were able to undertake in this project, we did ask WKKF program directors and grantees to share with us anecdotal evidence of the impacts that new leadership voices are having.

What we learned is that new leaders are bringing new information, different priorities, and unique perspectives to the table. The impact of these new voices varies tremendously. In some instances, they may have an impact on attitudes and perceptions, such as how existing leaders perceive and relate to sectors of the population that they may have ignored or stereotyped in the past. In other instances, there are more tangible accomplishments such as a change in policy, a presidential executive order, or a change in how resources are allocated. Perhaps some of the most profound changes are the personal ones - emerging leaders feel more confident, hopeful, and competent to make a difference in their own lives and the lives of their communities.

In what follows we share stories of impact and transformation told to us by new leaders and by those who work to develop and support the emergence of new voices. These stories fall into the following categories:
Developing a Leadership Voice

In many of our interviews we heard stories of people who were transformed by finding their leadership voice. Through the training and support they received, they not only gained confidence, and acquired new knowledge and skills that benefited them personally; they also went on to become change agents-working to organize others to make changes that will have a positive impact on their communities.

June Rostan, Executive Director of the Southern Empowerment Project, spoke about the impact that her organization's training had on one woman who participated. This particular woman had never been exposed before to the concept of white privilege. When she first came through the training she had "rejected any notion of white privilege." The training, however, made her think about issues of race in ways that she had never considered. When she came back for a second time, she had "absorbed and thought about a lot of things and had changed her ideas." This woman went on to get a degree from a historically black college and now serves on the Southern Empowerment Project's board of directors.

A day care owner in Mississippi had been in business for over twenty years. She needed a new facility for her day care center but could not get a bank loan because her credit rating was inadequate. She came to Antoinette Green who runs a micro-enterprise program for the Quitman County Development Organization. Ms. Green counsels people through the long process of preparing to apply for a federal loan. She says, "I don't want to set people up to fail. It is a long-term investment getting them ready for a loan." The day care owner did get the loan she needed. She has become a "great role model." She spoke at a program orientation last year to inspire others to go through the process. She told them that it wasn't easy but that it was worth it. She not only got the loan, but also knowledge and skills that have enabled her to get other grants as well. She has become an advocate for day care in the Delta, even traveling to Washington to inform her congressman on the issue.

Becoming Positional Leaders

There are many instances in which emerging new leaders have moved into leadership positions. In some cases these are elected positions such as when parents, who participated in the Commonwealth Institute for Parent Leadership, became school board members; or KYDS Seminar participant, Mark Schauer, becoming an elected state representative. Other times emerging leaders have taken leadership positions with community organizations, running or leading programs that they themselves have benefited from. Attaining a leadership position gives emerging leaders a platform for mobilizing others to make change.

Mark Schauer was 26 years old when he became the Executive Director of a Community Action Agency in Central Michigan. Mark comments, "the board took a big risk to hire me." As a young leader Mark participated in the KYDS Seminar. He learned model approaches for involving youth, elements of youth service delivery and how to collaborate. As a result of his own personal experience as a young leader and his participation in the KYDS Seminar he developed a deep belief in the contributions that young people can make to their communities, especially in addressing issues that affect their lives, e.g. peer pressure, substance abuse, teen pregnancy, etc. Mark went on to become a legislator and sponsored legislation in Michigan to allow youth to serve on boards. He hired a young intern to work for passage of the legislation who in turn engaged young people to testify for the bill. Mark is now thinking about pursuing legislation that will allow youth to serve on school boards.

Nakeisha Perkins is a high school student in Alabama. She started participating in activities organized by BAMA Kids, a comprehensive youth development program, when she was in 4th grade. When Ms. Perkins became 12 years old she was eligible to join Positive Pathways, a 21st century youth leadership program. This program provides young people with leadership training. Nakeisha became active in Positive Pathways and received training to be a tutor for children in the BAMA Kids summer enrichment program, a position she has held for the past two years. Nakeisha went on to become the President of Positive Pathways. She and other young people organize many different projects that support young people to take an active role in their community. They throw Super Tuesday parties with cake and presents for young people who register to vote. They were recently active organizers in a local effort to increase school taxes. The bond issue was defeated, but Positive Pathways organized young people to attend and speak at rallies, to talk with people in the community, and to bring a perspective to the discussion about school funding that only they had based on their own experiences in the schools.

Changing the Perspectives and Attitudes of Existing Leaders

Existing leaders-those who by virtue of their position have more power in a situation than emerging leaders-often have not been exposed to the perspectives, ideas and information that new leaders bring to the table. They have had the privilege to ignore or stereotype others without being aware of the consequences or how a failure to acknowledge diverse perspectives may limit their understanding and the quality of decisions that they are able to make. We heard several stories about changing perspectives and attitudes of existing leaders.

WKKF Program Director Barbara Sabol spoke about how her work with Turning Point Initiative grantees has made her much more sensitive to Native American perspectives and issues. In the past if Native Americans were not present at a networking meeting she did not notice their absence; now she does. At a recent Turning Point gathering she questioned one delegation about why they did not have any Native American representation. As a Program Director, Ms. Sabol has a platform for raising these questions and challenging others to consider whose perspectives are being left out. Her own change has made her a more effective advocate for Native American participation.

WKKF Program Director Tyrone Baines described a number of efforts as part of the KYIP Initiative where adults and young people were placed in situations where the young people were responsible for leading. Sometimes they were given money to implement an idea. When the power dynamics between young people and adults are shifted from normal patterns, adults have the opportunity to appreciate and value what young people have to offer. Often they bring to the table what they experience in their day-to-day lives. When adults listen to young people talk about their lives, they develop a deeper appreciation for the strengths they have "to manage within their context."

When new leadership voices are present in forums where existing leaders gather, they often bring a perspective and new ideas that make existing leaders think differently.

Dr. Carty Monette, President of Turtle Mountain Community College, is a "new voice" at national gatherings of land grant universities. He spoke about how he was able to bring a different perspective to one recent meeting he attended. Members of the group were sitting in a circle discussing the mission of land grant universities. Dr. Monette mentioned that Native Americans look at things in a circular way and that it was appropriate that they be sitting in a circle for this discussion. He suggested that land grant universities needed to come around again to the beginning of the circle to reconnect with their original grassroots mission. Dr. Monette feels that his presence and participation reminds leaders from much larger land grant universities where they came from and reconnects them to their roots.

Changing Policies and Institutional Practices.

When given training, support, and information, those who have not had a voice in setting a policy agenda or determining how institutions will implement policies, can develop an effective voice that can improve the well-being of children, youth, and their families. Kentucky parents are being trained to take a leadership role within school systems to address issues of student achievement. While the ultimate impact of this leadership development effort may be improved student achievement scores, there are many other elements of impact that are just as important, and may be indicators of long-term institutional change that will benefit students over time. Beverly Raimundo, the director of the Commonwealth Institute of Parent Leadership, noted several important outcomes of this project. Parents, teachers, and principals are having different types of conversations with one another as a result of this project. As parents become more informed about how students are performing in a variety of subjects, they become motivated to talk with principals and teachers about problem areas and what can be done to address underachievement. Several people we spoke with have been active in campaigns to pass legislation and transform institutional policies that will give young people meaningful leadership opportunities on boards and as grantmakers. We related the story of how Mark Schauer emerged as a leader who went on to pass legislation that allowed young people to serve on boards. Representative Schauer had been approached about sponsoring this legislation by a group of young activists that included Derron Parks.

Two parents, who were active as PTA chairs, and participants in the Commonwealth Institute of Parent Leadership program, learned about the level of student achievement in their children's schools. They became concerned that students were underachieving in science and social studies. Through the program they were asked to look for evidence that core standards were being addressed in these two subject areas. They did so by talking to teachers, principals, and looking at their children's homework. These two parents approached the principal for a conversation about their concerns and he became "a bit crazy," pulling out curriculum notebooks and telling the parents that he did not have time for these questions and they could take the curriculum frameworks and figure it out. These parents subsequently met with their coach from the Commonwealth Institute and reported what happened at the meeting. The coach worked with them to develop strategies to mend their relationship with the principal. They did so and worked with him to develop a proposal for an outdoor classroom, for which they got community support in the way of donated labor and supplies and funding to develop the curriculum. What began as a hostile encounter with the principal ended with a new program designed to enrich the learning opportunities of the children in the school.

Derron Parks started volunteering for the Battle Creek Community Foundation when he was in junior high. They had a program to match volunteers with community organizations. Through the encouragement of "some wonderful adults," he was drafted to serve as a member of the Youth Alliance Committee. The committee is a group of young people who receive proposals and make grants focused on youth efforts. Derron was part of a contingent of young people who approached Mark Schauer about sponsoring "youth on boards" legislation. Due to the passage of "youth on boards" legislation, there is now youth representation on the Battle Creek Community Foundation's board. Derron was recently involved in working to get a youth member on a university board. They encountered resistance from the Attorney General who felt this would be a "conflict of interest," but the campaign itself "made a really big impact and got people thinking about youth."

Barbara Sabol described a policy change that came about as a result of engaging new voices through the Devolution Initiative. The childcare application process in Mississippi had been a barrier for a lot of people since they had to go to a central office to fill out the form. The inconvenience meant that many people who were entitled to childcare assistance never received it. Successfully enrolling more children would require changing the application process and making it more accessible to parents. As a result of listening to people's needs, changes were made in the application process such as having outreach people at childcare centers and applications available on line and at children's schools. Barbara explained, that the changes in policy are important, but "the really hard work is getting people to take advantage of these changes."

Building Communities

Emerging leaders are the source of innovative and creative ideas that can have a positive impact on addressing community needs and improving the quality of life. Creating opportunities for people to express their thoughts and bringing resources to those ideas has been a significant strategy for building leadership, community development, and a sense of community ownership.

Frank Guajardo believes that people will emerge as leaders when they are given an opportunity to be heard. This belief led him to work with young people to do an oral history project to capture the wisdom and knowledge of elders and leaders in the community. This project validated the lives of those who had lived and worked in the community all their lives. Elders sharing knowledge of the community's past gave young people "the spirit and energy to become leaders." Leaders also emerged from some of the people who were interviewed, many of whom were empowered by telling their stories, to get involved in their community. Resources were available for mini-grants for good ideas. Some young people started a youth radio station; others started a print shop that now prints the local newspaper. When people have the opportunity to come up with a good idea and the resources to implement it, they create community assets. These assets create additional opportunities thereby strengthening the community's overall social and economic well-being making it an attractive place to live and work, not some place to be abandoned for better opportunities elsewhere.

We learned about several programs that did not start out intentionally as leadership programs or community development programs; rather, they provided those in the community who were receiving welfare, or who were chronically unemployed, with an opportunity to learn and apply new skills. Because they were encouraged and supported to contribute to their communities, many went on to become community leaders.

A program in Alabama began as an effort to keep the elderly in their homes by training family members, many of whom were receiving public assistance, to look after their elderly parents. In exchange for the training, these aides were required to volunteer on community projects. They were given the opportunity to define their own projects, which included such efforts as raising money to buy medication for people who could not afford it, organizing Saturday clean-up projects, and building street ramps for the elderly. Some of these women were recognized for their leadership and were asked to take jobs on projects sponsored by the University of Alabama. One of these projects brought water to homes in the east end of Wilcox County. This project had not been considered for funding by either the Kellogg Foundation or the University of Alabama, but when they learned from community members about the need, they agreed to support the project. Listening to people in the community and giving them an opportunity to set priorities increased community participation, buy-in, and the quality of the community's leadership.

Expanding Resources to Communities of Color

One powerful impact of emerging new leaders has been their ability to mobilize around federal policies that have expanded the resources that are available to communities of color. A particularly effective tool has been the presidential Executive Order.

The Asian Pacific Islander American Health Forum was instrumental in organizing a national effort to get an Executive Order signed that would mandate every federal agency to deliver programs to Asian Pacific Islander populations. Tessie Guillermo says, "now every federal agency has to have a plan for how they will address the needs of Asian Pacific Islander populations." This mandate has had an impact on both policies and budgets. Getting the Executive Order was a significant achievement in itself, but its full impact requires on-going efforts by advocacy organizations, like the Health Forum, to bring recommendations to agencies about what they can do for Asian Pacific Islander communities and to monitor their implementation. As a result of this order the NEA, for example, has put together a "missing in history" tour that focuses on Asian Pacific Islanders.

Dr. Carty Monette indicated that a 1996 Executive Order significantly expanded the amount of resources available to tribal colleges. With support from the Kellogg Foundation, Turtle Mountain Community College established an Economic Development Center. This Center has been a conduit for bringing federal resources into the community and for developing partnerships to take advantage of funding opportunities.


Transforming the Field

Joy DesMarais facilitates the Diversity YES Learning Circle, a project of the National Youth Leadership Council, an advocacy organization for service learning and national service. This project is training nine emerging service learning leaders by giving them the opportunity to conduct research on different models of service within different racial and ethnic cultures. Drawing from their own experiences these young people are validating different approaches to service and challenging the service learning field to move from a charity approach to a social justice approach to service. Ultimately each participant will develop a 90 minute training module on their research that will be shared with others in the field.
An important impact of new leadership voices is bringing new and different perspectives to an existing field. A field is characterized by a body of knowledge and a set of practices around an issue or topic of concern. Ways of knowing and working are often innovative and new when they are developed, but over time they may become solidified and unresponsive to new ideas. Several of the Foundation's initiatives are intended to have a transformative impact on a field. Many of these are in the field of education, e.g. service learning, middle schools education, health professions education and food systems education.

The service learning movement is intended to change how young people learn. Many of these changes are being demanded by students who want educational experiences that are more linked to the community and promote community well-being. According to WKKF Program Director Chris Kwak, service learning is now in 60% of schools nationwide. While service learning has challenged many of the assumptions in the field of education, its own assumptions as a field are also being challenged.

The impact that new leadership voices are having is multi-dimensional and complex. Some of these impacts are quantifiable, such as legislation or executive orders passed, new programs established, and new people in leadership positions. Other impacts are more qualitative and difficult to measure, but they are equally important outcomes of engaging and supporting the emergence of new leadership voices. These include the personal empowerment of new leaders, changes in attitudes and perspectives of existing leaders, and a community's feelings of renewed commitment and hope for creating a better future.