In this section we focus on a variety of venues that are supporting the emergence of new leadership voices. We highlight organizations and initiatives that we learned about through our interviews and share briefly their approaches to developing and supporting new leadership. It is notable that many of the efforts described below are not delivered through formal leadership development programs, rather they occur by creating leadership opportunities within organizations, bringing together coalitions and partnerships, and addressing the economic, educational, and health needs of people in communities.

Educational institutions

The W.K. Kellogg Foundation has a long history of supporting the development of youth leadership through educational institutions. In addition to focusing on youth leadership development, educational institutions have also been the site for programs whose focus is building the community's leadership capacity. Several of the people we interviewed for this project are based in educational institutions, and have developed programs that seek innovative ways to span the boundaries between the institution and the community.

Delta State University
Delta State University's Center for Community Development houses the Delta Partners Initiative (DPI). This program is described as a "public service and educational program to help communities and regional organizations create solutions for critical problems in leadership development, community development and economic development in the 18-county Mississippi Delta region." The DPI has put in place a number of programs that build leadership capacity using a diversity of approaches.

The goal of the Delta Emerging Leaders Program is to develop a Delta-wide network of diverse leaders who will work individually and collectively to benefit the region. The program identifies and selects "emerging leaders" -- defined as people between 25 and 50 years of age who have demonstrated some form of competence in leadership and who have a commitment to their community and the Mississippi Delta. This is an intensive two-year program that gives participants an "opportunity to develop an understanding of life in the region from a diverse perspective, to develop lasting cross-cultural relationships, and to thoroughly examine and enhance their individual leadership skills." The program consists of four weekend retreats on such topics as personal understanding, organizational effectiveness and multi-culturalism. Each retreat is a mix of training sessions, seminars, field visits and cultural and social activities. In addition, the program uses study tours, action research teams, journal writing and individual learning plans.

An example of a project-based model for youth leadership development is the Delta Partnerships Initiative Youth Program. This program has held two youth summits. These summits identified 10 students from each of eighteen high schools and brought these young people together for three-day summits. The first summit gave young people an opportunity to identify their action priorities. These included better educational systems, safe after school programs, mentoring programs, and dealing with race issues. The second summit established a youth steering committee (composed of two representatives from each school) that had the responsibility to review and select three youth-initiated projects for funding. Both the youth who participated in the review and selection process, and the youth who designed and implemented the winning projects, had the opportunity to develop their leadership skills.

The DPI is also launching a Community Demonstration Program that will foster partnership building and collaboration among four Mississippi Delta Communities by creating opportunities for citizens, government officials and private sector leaders to join forces in tackling social and economic problems. This approach is designed to strengthen the leadership capacity of whole communities to solve problems.

Llano Grande Center for Research and Development
The Llano Grande Center is a "school and community based non-profit organization" that is located at Edcouch-Elsa High School in a rural Texas community 15 miles north of the Texas-Mexican border. The Llano Grande Center expands opportunities for young people to apply the skills they learn by "going beyond the four walls of the classroom." The community becomes the classroom. Among the activities that the Center supports are service-learning projects, internships, youth training, doing history research, making public presentations, writing grants, participating in conferences, hosting and planning conferences and participating in teacher trainings.

Frank Guajardo, director of the Center, described an oral history project in which students interviewed elders in their community. Through this process both the young people and the elders developed stronger commitments to make a difference in their communities. Young people have learned how to do oral histories and conduct surveys. They have identified community needs and through a process of re-granting have had an opportunity to take their ideas for improving the community and make them a reality. Young people publish a city newspaper and run a community radio station.

Turtle Mountain Community College
Dr. Carty Monette, President of Turtle Mountain Community College, spoke about the creation of the Center for New Growth and Economic Development, whose mission is to promote small business development and train the next generation of leaders in economic and social community development. This center actively pursues locating and acquiring federal resources that are available to support economic development. In addition, the college is deeply engaged in other community activities that promote health and well-being, preserve Ojibwe language and culture, and provide skills building and training on such topics as "how to write a proposal and "how to access money."

Grassroots Leadership Development Organizations

The W.K. Kellogg Foundation has supported grassroots community leadership development by funding programs whose focus is catalyzing community change and improvement through the development of individual leaders and organizational capacity building. Grassroots leadership development organizations support people in communities to become more effective leaders by designing and implementing programs that provide emerging leaders with skills training;, mentoring; peer engagement; and project planning and implementation, among others. These programs may be issue oriented or target specific populations. They often reach out to non-positional leaders or people who may be new to a leadership position within a non-profit organization.

21st Center Youth Leadership Program
The 21st Century Youth Leadership Program is a leadership program for young people to learn organizing skills. According to Positive Pathways president, Nakeisha Perkins, the Youth Leadership Program holds three training camps each year on conflict resolution, organizing skills, and meditation. Local chapters of young people, like Positive Pathways, then take what they learn through their training and engage in their own organizing projects. These may include activities like voter registration, mobilizing citizens to pass a school tax increase, or "working to shut down companies that abuse animals."

Southern Empowerment Program
The Southern Empowerment Program (SEP) trains community leaders to become organizers for organizations who are members of the program. The project began with a group of leaders from five community organizations in the upper south who wanted to deal with racism and its impact on communities. The program has evolved over time from an eight-week program to a three-week summer training for community organizers. There is a week of training on each of the following: skills for organizing, power and the "isms," and grassroots fundraising. June Rostan, SEP Executive Director, noted that one of the biggest challenges emerging leaders they train encounter, is having an organization that they can work within that has a commitment to developing new roles for experienced leaders.

Service Organizations

Service organizations are primarily focused on meeting a personal need that a particular population has. Commonly, these are: education, job training, substance abuse or health care related needs. As these programs search for innovative ways to achieve their missions and meet the needs of those they are serving, they are engaging more and more in leadership development. These organizations are creating opportunities for their "clients" to become active "citizens." They are engaged in transforming people's self-perceptions, sense of opportunity about what they can achieve in their own lives, and what they have to offer others. Typically these programs develop leadership through intensive mentoring, recognition and support for good ideas, and providing leadership opportunities.

Wilcox County Department of Human Services
The Wilcox County Department of Human Services has initiated a number of projects that respond to the needs of people in the rural Alabama communities it serves. One such project provided training and education for family members to care for their elderly relatives. While the project was originally intended to meet the needs of the elderly in the community, it resulted in the training of 100 women as home health aides. This training enabled many of these women, who were moving off welfare, to find employment as home health aides. In exchange for the training, participants were asked to volunteer their time to projects organized by the University of Alabama. These volunteer projects gave women valuable skills and experience that enabled some of them to become active community leaders.

Another project was developed to respond to a community need for tutoring and after school care. The Better Activities to Make All-Around Kids program was launched. Many of the children who started out in this program when they were young became tutors in the program when they got older. When the children turn twelve they can also join the Positive Pathways program, which is affiliated with the 21st Century Youth Leadership Program, and become trained as community organizers.

Quitman County Development Organization
The Quitman County Development Organization runs a micro-enterprise program that makes available federal loan money to small business owners. Antoinette Green has found that people in her community who have an interest in applying for a federal loan often require intensive training and mentoring in order to prepare themselves to apply. This process of working with small business owners in the community engages them in activities that develop their skills, confidence, and commitment to helping others in their community. A day care owner, whom Ms. Green worked closely with, has become a "great role model" for others who are also interested in starting or expanding a small business. In the process of meeting a personal need, this woman developed her leadership skills that now benefit the larger community.

STRIVE and Bon Secours Baltimore Health System
Both Kenneth Santana with STRIVE and Hakim Farrakhan with the Bon Secours Baltimore Health System made presentations to the Foundation's June 2001 Program Conversation about their work to support the emergence of new leadership voices. Each of these organizations is seeking to serve men who have had little opportunity for, or access to, employment and/or health care. These organizations simultaneously provide services and opportunities for men to contribute to setting program priorities and supporting others in need.

Advocacy Organizations

Advocacy organizations focus on changing policy, transforming fields, shaping public perceptions, developing useable knowledge, and expanding available resources around an issue or a problem. Often these organizations take an active role in developing new leadership capable of leading campaigns for change around a social problem or issue.

Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence
The Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence is an education advocacy organization in Kentucky that works to improve education and student achievement. The Committee established and sponsors the Commonwealth Institute for Parent Leadership. The Institute provides training to parents to support them to become effective catalysts for change in Kentucky schools around issues of student achievement. Participants receive six days of training (three two-day sessions over a two to three month period), commit to remain engaged in effecting change for two years, and implement a project in their community that involves other parents. The Institute encourages people from communities to come in teams so that they have support and partnership in their change efforts.

National Youth Leadership Council
The National Youth Leadership Council is an advocacy organization for service learning and national service. The organization is engaged in convening the service learning field at an annual national conference, assisting in educational reform, advocating for national service policies, developing and publishing curricula, and youth and adult leadership development. In an interview with Joy DesMarais we learned about the Council's efforts to develop and support young people to take leadership roles as researchers, trainers, and participants on national commissions. Learning by doing and mentoring are leadership development strategies that are core to the Council's approach to developing and supporting emerging young leaders.

Asian Pacific Islander American Health Forum
The Asian Pacific Islander American Health Forum (APIAHF) is a national advocacy organization that is promoting policy, programs and research efforts for the improvement of the health status of all Asian American and Pacific Islander Communities. They act as a network and clearinghouse for information that communities need to advocate for resources and changes in policy that will improve health. In addition they conduct their own research to gather data that is useful for making their case in policy discussions. Tessie Guillermo, APIAHF Executive Director, describes their approach as building the collective leadership of Asian Pacific Islander communities through catalyzing and supporting coalitions of like-minded organizations to work together in partnership to achieve shared goals. One of the strengths of APIAHF is its diversity. The challenge is to work together to expand resources for all communities rather than having communities competing against each other for their share of the pie.

Foundation-Sponsored Initiatives

Many emerging leaders have been identified and supported to develop their leadership capacity through foundation-sponsored initiatives. Initiatives use different leadership development strategies to support the emergence of new leadership voices, including creating leadership opportunities, encouraging community engagement, engaging in shared learning projects, launching partnerships or commissions, and convening networking meetings. Leadership emerges from all of these efforts. Below we briefly describe how five W.K. Kellogg Foundation initiatives are supporting the emergence of new leaders.

Learning InDeed
The Learning InDeed Initiative has as one of its goals to create a leadership network for the field of service learning. The intent of the network is to bring together a diverse group of stakeholders to create a collective leadership voice on critical issues in the service learning field. In addition to a leadership network the initiative has also established a National Commission on Service Learning composed of opinion leaders in the field. The Commission spearheads the public communication effort. Young people we interviewed, like Lauren McAlee, serve on the Commission.

According to WKKF Program Director Chris Kwak, one of the challenges for the initiative has been building strong, productive relationships between the Commission and the leadership network in a coordinated effort to advance the field. Struggles over turf issues, distrust of opinion leaders by those working in communities, and the reluctance of existing leaders to share leadership all impede the field's ability to develop a collective leadership voice. Working through these issues is one of the goals of this initiative.

Middle Start
The Middle Start Initiative is a state and national effort to reform middle schools education. The initiative engages many new leadership voices in communities including parents, students, and teachers. A core strategy of the Middle Start Initiative has been to engage teachers, principals, and students in learning activities that gather school-based data that can be used to make a case for reform both within the school and at the state level. An important leadership development strategy for this initiative has been the design and implementation of "school quality reviews." Teams of school personnel and peers from other schools assess whether schools are achieving what they want to achieve. These teams work collaboratively to identify school goals and indicators of achievement. The teams are composed of teachers, principals, and people from the communities. The process of working together creates a culture of shared leadership, an opportunity for reflection, and a commitment to expand this process in other school districts. WKKF Program Director Leah Austin described this peer review process as a critical leadership development strategy for both the school and the field of middle school education reform.

Community Voices
Community Voices is an initiative designed to improve access to quality health services. Thirteen communities participate in the initiative. Each community has developed projects and approaches to creating health care access that are responsive to community needs. The underserved, e.g. the working poor, individuals or families who receive public assistance, and those who lack any or adequate health insurance are actively involved in shaping projects in their community and contributing to a national debate on health access and quality.

In Baltimore, the Vision for Health Consortium (VHF) has sought the active involvement of Sandtown-Winchester residents in shaping its priorities and partnerships. VHF employs community residents as community outreach workers who serve as a bridge between residents and health care services and between the Consortium and community residents. According to WKKF Program Director Henrie Treadwell, VHF recently opened the first ever men's health clinic in the nation. This clinic provides both health care to those who have no other access and opportunities for community residents to become new leadership voices in the community.

Mid-South Delta Initiative
The Mid-South Delta Initiative is a community and leadership development initiative that focuses on 55 counties in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. MSDI has mapped the leadership development resources that exist in the region, and has convened community-based representatives to investigate ways to enhance existing leadership programs and opportunities in the Delta. A MSDI Leadership Committee has been created with the mission of creating a shared leadership vision and enhancing leadership skills and opportunities for people and communities to undertake innovative, collaborative, and comprehensive approaches to community development. MSDI plans to launch a Tri-State Leadership Development Program that will target individuals who have been historically excluded from decision-making opportunities.

Michigan Community Foundation's Youth Project
The Michigan Community Foundation's Youth Project gave young people the opportunity to lead by making possible the creation of 49 Youth Advisory Councils at community foundations. Nearly 1500 young people participated in YACs, raising money and making grants that supported programs or projects that affected youth and families in their community.

Each of these venues, whether an organization, institution, or foundation-sponsored initiative, supports the emergence of new leaders. In the next section we explore the range of strategies that have been used to develop and support leaders to take an active role in improving their communities.

6. See "How Service Works: Summary of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation's "Service Works": A Retrospective Evaluation of Higher Education Service Programs," and " Leadership in the Making: Impact and Insights From Leadership Development Programs in U.S. Colleges and Universities."
7. See "Cluster Evaluation of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation Comprehensive Community-Based Leadership Cluster," July 1999.
8. Myrtis Tabb and Christy Riddle Montesi, "A Model for Long-Term Leadership Development Among Groups of Diverse Personas: The Delta Emerging Leaders Program," June 3,2000.
9. The evaluation of the Grassroots Community Leadership Initiative and subsequent publications document the Foundation's efforts in this area. See "Grassroots Leadership Development: A Guide for Grassroots Leaders, Support Organizations, and Funders."