Institute of International Education and RCLA Launch Evaluation with Health Leaders in Five Countries
New research shows the first significant decline in decades in the number of women dying from pregnancy and childbirth each year – a remarkable sign of progress for family planning and health services. Yet preserving the health of women and families continues to be a global leadership challenge. The Institute of International Education's West Coast Center has partnered with RCLA on a nine-month evaluation of its leadership development program with with more than 1,200 reproductive health leaders in five countries.
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New E-Community for Social Change Advocates
A new social media site from RCLA's Social Change Leadership Network enables grassroots nonprofit leaders to connect with other dynamic advocates, share their latest work, engage in dialogue around social change and policy issues, and exchange resources. The newly launched site features: upcoming events and conferences; discussion questions and insights into timely issues; professional development opportunities for social change leaders; new resources - research, reports, funding opportunities and RFPs; research ideas; and more.
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Equipping Women to Lead Amid Rapid Shifts in the Microfinance Industry
Women’s World Banking (WWB) and RCLA have just begun a three-year participatory evaluation of the newly founded Center for Microfinance Leadership (CML), a program run by WWB in partnership with The MasterCard Foundation. NYU Wagner faculty members Erica G. Foldy and Jonathan J. Morduch will serve as advisors for the evaluation.
WWB is the largest global microfinance network expanding economic assets, participation and power of poor women as entrepreneurs and economic agents. WWB founded the Center in 2009 in response to critical changes in the microfinance industry—increased commercialization, decreased presence of women staff at all levels of microfinance providers, and rapid growth—changes that underscore the need for quality leadership. The Center aims to bring the best of leadership development and gender diversity initiatives to the microfinance sector through training, coaching, learning exchanges and support for organizational change.
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Performing Arts Presenters to Develop Missions that Adapt to Community Change
In June, RCLA and the Association of Performing Arts Presenters launch a Leadership Development Institute with administrators from performing arts organizations across the US. Through cycles of reflection and action in their work individually and as a group, participants will examine how they can build organizational missions that are adaptive to the ways their communities are changing. RCLA Executive Director Bethany Godsoe and Senior Fellow Theresa Holden are leading the project.» Learn more about the Association of Performing Arts Presenters
NYC Government Officials Focus on Efficiency Strategies to Avoid Cutbacks
“Operational Efficiency in New York City Government,” the next event in the Leading Large Scale Change executive briefing series sponsored by RCLA and Accenture, will focus on the enormous pressure New York agencies and authorities face to operate more efficiently - including through centralizing and consolidating operations, among other strategies, to prevent cutbacks to the City’s core services.
On June 15, Prof. Anthony Shorris, director of NYU Wagner’s Rudin Center for Transportation Policy and Management, will moderate a panel with Cas Holloway, Commissioner of the NYC Department of Environmental Protection; Jeffrey A. Kay, Director of the Mayor’s Office of Operations; Charles Monheim, Chief Operating Officer of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority; and Carole Post, Commissioner of the NYC Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications.
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Emerging Leaders Complete Fellowship with a Renewed Commitment to Public Service
A group of 30 dynamic recent college graduates completed RCLA and NYU Wagner’s prestigious Fellowship for Emerging Leaders in Public Service on May 17. They leave the seven-month program with a deeper understanding of the public service landscape and new ideas for how to make a difference in their organizations and communities now and in the future. They have also developed a network of accomplished mentors and peers they can turn to for support.Jennifer Dodge, RCLA research associate and NYU Wagner doctoral candidate, is the recipient of the 2010 Hayward Alker Award for her paper “Tensions in Deliberative Practice: A View from Civil Society,” which she presented at the American Political Science Association (APSA) conference in September 2009. She will also be the co-organizer for a conference group at the APSA conference this fall. Jennifer Dodge will also be the book review editor for the Critical Policy Studies journal starting in July 2010.
RCLA is releasing a new report, “Leadership Development and Democratic Governance: The Case of the Training Program in Human Rights for Municipal Personeros in Colombia," with key findings from an exploratory study of a leadership development program’s impact on the creation of an accountability culture in local governments. Using two in-depth case studies, the report explores ways in which ways the program motivated a change in the behaviors of Personeros, key figures of Colombia's local government systems.
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RCLA Faculty Director Sonia Ospina will serve on the opening panel for “Evaluation of Social Programs,” a regional course through the Ibero-American School of Management and Public Policy (EIAPP) to be offered August 9-13, 2010 at the National School of Public Administration (ENAP) in Brazil.
Congratulations to RCLA’s student staff members graduating from NYU Wagner this year! They include Florence Au, Moschell Coffey, Casey Heim, Ethel Mendez, and Evian Patterson. We are thrilled that RCLA Program Coordinator Casey Heim has been honored with the NYU Wagner Robert Berne Award for Leadership, along with Wagner students Mark Concepcion and Cynthia Leger.
RCLA will be hosting the National Hispanic Medical Association Leadership Fellowship Program for a week-long institute in July, with Brian Elbel serving as NYU Wagner's lead faculty member. The fellowship emphasizes building the knowledge and skills to take a leadership role in health policy development and advocacy at local, state and national levels on issues of importance to the health of the Hispanic community.
At the Social Change Leadership Network’s "Community Organizing Basics" training on May 28, facilitators used a variety of leadership case studies, including from RCLA's report Changing Lives, Building Communities; How Social Justice Organizations Build and Use Power. Additionally, as part of witnessing leaders in action, participants heard from Jeremy Saunders from the New York City AIDS Housing Network and saw films on the work of three organizations: Domestic Workers United, Community Voices Heard, and FIERCE NYC.
National Urban Fellows is now accepting applications for its America’s Leaders of Change program, a rigorous 12-month continuing leadership development program designed for breakthrough leadership, enabling leaders to successfully transition into more advanced leadership roles. Applicants should have 5-10 years of leadership experience with 15-20 years remaining in their careers and demonstrated civic leadership and commitment to social justice.
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