SOUTHEAST LOS ANGELES CIVIC LEADERSHIP ACADEMY
In partnership with the California Community Foundation (CCF), the Center for Community Engagement (CCE) implements the Civic Leadership Academy (CLA), a Civic Engagement Initiative focused on leadership development and capacity building for emerging community leaders in Southeast Los Angeles. This is a collaborative initiative with hundreds of individuals representing eight cities in the Southeast Los Angeles region, focusing on local government and governance. The Southeast Los Angeles cities include: Bell, Bell Gardens, Cudahy, Huntington Park, Lynwood, Maywood, South Gate, and unincorporated Walnut Park. Key aspects include but are not limited to:
COMPONENT ONE
Leadership & Capacity Building
CLA is divided in three components designed to enhance individual leadership skills and strengthen organizational and community capacity to launch civic projects. As a part of this, CCE also offers and provides technical assistance through a combination of training, mentoring, coaching, and convenings to support and sustain the civic projects.
COMPONENT TWO
Strengthening the Political Agenda
The second component immersed emerging leaders into three overlapping topics:
COMPONENT THREE
Civic Projects & Community Forums
Beginning in 2016, all graduates and participants of CLA II were invited to become members of the SELA-CLN, which is focused on developing projects and offering community forums on prioritized areas. The Center for Community Engagement (CCE) will support the SELA CLN Steering Committee and Action Teams to launch civic projects and host community forums on the issues the network prioritized. The participants prioritized improvements in the following five (5) areas:
DESIGN & APPROACH
In both components, participants are trained community-based participatory and action research, information is collected to identify problems and develop solutions around key issues (e.g., neighborhood safety, affordable housing, education, etc.). Participants conduct interviews with community and civic leaders, learn how to obtain information from public sources, and learn how to use various institutional processes to advance projects (e.g., public input sessions, commission meetings, media strategies, community organizing, legal and policy advocacy, etc.).
More importantly, learning and sustainability is promoted and assessed through community-based participatory research and adult learning principles. This consists of participants co-constructing knowledge, reflecting and sharing, and providing ongoing feedback among, with, and for groups. This approach builds greater understanding about their leadership identity and capacity.
Learning sessions are designed and implemented in mono-lingual Spanish or in bilingual English-Spanish format. These sessions are supported by CSULB advanced-level undergraduate and graduate students trained in small group facilitation and knowledgeable in theories and concepts of civic engagement. These students serve as co-facilitators during workshops and, in between sessions, also provide participants with one-on-one support. Data is compiled into summaries, research, and presentations for communities, foundations, universities, and community-based organizations.
Since 2015, CCE partnered with the California Community Foundation (CCF) on a new Civic Leadership Academy (CLA II) with the purpose of strengthening the Latino political agenda of the Southeast Los Angeles Civic Leaders Network (SELA-CLN). SELA-CLN emerged out of an interest and commitment from CLA participants in 2012 to work regionally to address local needs and issues.
CLA II focused on equipping SELA-CLN with the knowledge and capacity to strengthen and advance their regional political agenda, exploring alignment between SELA-CLN’s political agenda and other community groups’ and organizations’ missions and visions, and deepening the relationship between SELA-CLN and other community stakeholders.
- Partnering with local organizations and identifying emerging leaders and potential projects;
- Providing leadership development and workshops focusing on key community identified issues related to local government and governance;
- Involving emerging leaders and formal and informal organizations with CCF Civic Engagement Initiative’s longer term goals of creating a culture of civic participation resulting in increased transparency, understanding of available resources, and accountability mechanisms to promote good local government in the Southeast Cities;
- Involving emerging leaders in the Southeast Los Angeles Civic Leaders Network (CLN) that addresses local civic issues regionally and through civic projects such as community education forums.
COMPONENT ONE
Leadership & Capacity Building
CLA is divided in three components designed to enhance individual leadership skills and strengthen organizational and community capacity to launch civic projects. As a part of this, CCE also offers and provides technical assistance through a combination of training, mentoring, coaching, and convenings to support and sustain the civic projects.
COMPONENT TWO
Strengthening the Political Agenda
The second component immersed emerging leaders into three overlapping topics:
- How key local civic groups use the electoral (political) system to establish and legitimize local public policies;
- How local governments—city, school district, special districts and county governments—function as institutions (i.e., bureaucracy, rules, technical expertise, etc.); and
- How immigrant and/or ethnic minority populations can use electoral (i.e., voter engagement) and non-electoral (i.e., grassroots) politics to impact local governments and policies.
COMPONENT THREE
Civic Projects & Community Forums
Beginning in 2016, all graduates and participants of CLA II were invited to become members of the SELA-CLN, which is focused on developing projects and offering community forums on prioritized areas. The Center for Community Engagement (CCE) will support the SELA CLN Steering Committee and Action Teams to launch civic projects and host community forums on the issues the network prioritized. The participants prioritized improvements in the following five (5) areas:
- Quality of K-12 education,
- Access to affordable and high quality housing,
- Community safety,
- Access to youth development programs and services; and
- Civic participation in the Southeast Los Angeles region.
DESIGN & APPROACH
In both components, participants are trained community-based participatory and action research, information is collected to identify problems and develop solutions around key issues (e.g., neighborhood safety, affordable housing, education, etc.). Participants conduct interviews with community and civic leaders, learn how to obtain information from public sources, and learn how to use various institutional processes to advance projects (e.g., public input sessions, commission meetings, media strategies, community organizing, legal and policy advocacy, etc.).
More importantly, learning and sustainability is promoted and assessed through community-based participatory research and adult learning principles. This consists of participants co-constructing knowledge, reflecting and sharing, and providing ongoing feedback among, with, and for groups. This approach builds greater understanding about their leadership identity and capacity.
Learning sessions are designed and implemented in mono-lingual Spanish or in bilingual English-Spanish format. These sessions are supported by CSULB advanced-level undergraduate and graduate students trained in small group facilitation and knowledgeable in theories and concepts of civic engagement. These students serve as co-facilitators during workshops and, in between sessions, also provide participants with one-on-one support. Data is compiled into summaries, research, and presentations for communities, foundations, universities, and community-based organizations.
Since 2015, CCE partnered with the California Community Foundation (CCF) on a new Civic Leadership Academy (CLA II) with the purpose of strengthening the Latino political agenda of the Southeast Los Angeles Civic Leaders Network (SELA-CLN). SELA-CLN emerged out of an interest and commitment from CLA participants in 2012 to work regionally to address local needs and issues.
CLA II focused on equipping SELA-CLN with the knowledge and capacity to strengthen and advance their regional political agenda, exploring alignment between SELA-CLN’s political agenda and other community groups’ and organizations’ missions and visions, and deepening the relationship between SELA-CLN and other community stakeholders.
CIVIC LEADERSHIP ACADEMY IPowerPoint Slides - July 25, 2015
PowerPoint Slides - August 1, 2015
PowerPoint Slides - August 15, 2015
PowerPoint Slides - August 29, 2015
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CIVIC LEADERSHIP ACADEMY IIPowerPoint Slides - October 24, 2015
PowerPoint Slides - November 7, 2015
PowerPoint Slides - November 21, 2015
PowerPoint Slides - December 5, 2015
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