Leadership Learning Community Webinar Series

June 2011

@leadershipera #leadershipnet

"LLC brings together the best minds in leadership development to advance the field…LLC anticipates the future and is a dynamic catalyst capable of creating a link from today’s issues in leadership development to tomorrow’s solutions.“ (Donna Stark, The Annie E. Casey Foundation)

Network Research Application

Inclusive, Networked & Collective Leadership

The value of collective leadership networks is in their capacity to

solve problems quickly in an environment of uncertainty and

complexity (Watts, 2004)

www.leadershipforanewera.org

Leadership Webinar Series

A Case Study in Popular Education and Scaling Leadership Impact in Rural Communities

Ruby Lee, Northwest Area Foundation

Daring to Lead 2011: Leadership Development & Support for Nonprofit Leaders

Are You A Network Weaver?

June Holley, Network Weaver

Marla Cornelius, CompassPoint Nonprofit Services

A Case Study in Popular Education and Scaling Leadership Impact The Horizons Program offers a compelling story for all in the field of leadership who care deeply about how to connect and mobilize leadership at the scale needed to address complex social problems.

Patrick L. Scully, Everyday Democracy, Senior Associate Ruby Lee, Program Director, Northwest Area Foundation Lynette Flage, North Dakota State University Extension Service Deborah Meehan, Executive Director, Leadership Learning Community

The Horizons Program: Testing New

Ideas and Approaches

Is it possible to build leadership capacity in hundreds of rural communities?

Yes!!! 100,000 rural people engaged from 283 communities across 7 states.

Horizon’s Leadership Impact

• A 63% increase in civic engagement

• Community governance is more accessible and transparent in 50% of the communities

• Majority of participants are new to leadership

• Over 1,811 action plans implemented

• $21,000,000 in new resources for communities

Key Elements of Horizons

Study Circles

Leadership Plenty

Community Visioning

Coaching: Action Plans

Small Grants

Social Media

Traditional Leadership Approach

Individual Skills and Knowledge

Strong Organizations

Community Results

From Individuals to Communities

Traditional Approaches Horizons Program

From Organizations to Networks…

Image Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/thefangmonster/ / CC BY 2.0

From Silos to Partnerships…

Volunteers

Community

Business

Government

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Scalable

Builds Connection

Promotes Action

Leverages Resources

Builds & Doesn’t Rely on Infrastructure

Horizons is a Model That Is….

Lessons Learned from the Horizons Program

Implementation & Evaluation

Leadership and Poverty Reduction

Will increased leadership capacity help rural communities reduce poverty & build prosperity? Yes and No:

77% of Study Circle participants understand root causes of poverty and over half are still engaged in poverty reduction actions

AND

Many participants were not clear on definitions & expectations and believe it’s too early to know if they are making a difference.

Study Circles Inspire Action

Popular education helps to motivate people who have been disengaged to take action by helping

them to understand how their personal experiences are connected to societal problems.

We had wonderful ideas after the study circles ..to decide what poverty meant to everybody and where we were going to go with it and how we were going to fix it. Horizon’s participant

Horizons Builds Connection

• Individuals

• Organizations

• Delivery Organizations

• Community & Extension

• Community & Foundations

Strengthening the Horizons Model

• Diversity and race: The program increased leadership diversity, but needed to bring a race lens to understanding and acting on poverty & to appropriately tailor the program for different communities.

The Horizons Program provides an important model for all who are interested in how to mobilize leadership at the scale needed to make a significant difference in the well-being of communities.

“We have lived here for eight years, and, they’ve been talking about ‘somebody’s got to do something’ …and now in eighteen months somebody has done something.” Horizons’ participant

Images: Lawrence Community Works Website, Bruner Loeb Forum

Highlights from the Foundation

Ruby Lee

Program Officer

Northwest Area Foundation

Highlights from the Study Circles

Patrick L. Scully

Everyday Democracy

Senior Associate

Highlights from Community Coaching

Lynette Flage

North Dakota State University

Extension Service

Questions?

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