The Neighborhood Leadership Program is looking for people with ideas for improving their neighborhoods, who want to learn how to put those ideas into action.
The program, run by the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, offers eight months of training and grants to emerging community leaders.
Click here for more information on the program and how to apply. Applications are due by Feb. 24.
Participants take part in training and small-group coaching while planning and implementing pilot community projects followed by more ambitious projects.
Kevin Ewing, who provides the training, explained it this way:
“Basically the idea is to find people we call ‘Neighborhood Initiators’ — people who of their own volition find ways to bring people together and build the kind of communities they want to live, to work and to play in. Initiators like Stacy Spell in West River or Mary Ann Moran in Chatham Square or Kim DiBendetto-Rogers in Newhallville or Leslie Radcliff in The Hill and many others. Ordinary neighborhood folks who have stepped up and stepped out with no other motivation than their desire to make this city better. People who have a dream for a brighter community and are ready to take the steps to make it a reality.
“The program will teach some basic community building tools and techniques along with actual project management coaching. In this model, the focus isn’t on the project, however. The focus is on the people. It is a leadership program with funding for projects attached. The projects are real life applications of the things we will discover in the training. David Carter and I will be leading the training at The Grove but the real learning comes from having all of the leaders in a room together sharing their stories. I encourage anyone who is ready to make New Haven an even greater city to apply.”
