NYU Wagner

SOCIAL CHANGE LEADERSHIP NETWORK

Through the Social Change Leadership Network, RCLA partners with more than 700 social change organizations to advance their work on the front lines tackling society's toughest issues.

In environments of material scarcity, where people operate on the margins of power structures, social change leaders see abundant possibility. They work with resourceful and purposeful action, propelled to enact a vision of a more just world. RCLA sees this collective work toward the common good as leadership essential to guarantee, sustain and invigorate democracy.

As a dormant American civil society awakens in the midst of an unprecedented economic crisis, the lessons social change organizations hold for the field of public service could not be more timely. RCLA partners with grassroots leaders to co-produce and document knowledge and facilitate learning about social change leadership practices that deepen civic participation and make social transformation possible.

The Network has three main aims:

• To document and share knowledge within the field and with other public service leaders about effective social change leadership practices through a process that strengthens the relationship between academics and social change organizers;
• To support and connect leaders effectively advancing social change by facilitating opportunities for personal and organizational capacity-building and dialogue; and
• To foster global leadership by connecting local efforts to international networks and frameworks.

Connection. Action. Reflection.
Social Change Learning Sessions

Network learning sessions provide collaborative spaces that give social change leaders opportunities to reflect critically on their work, obtain new skills and learn from other dynamic individuals at organizations confronting similar dilemmas. They yield new and practical insights and strategies for building organizational capacity and sustainability.

Click here to learn about 2010 learning sessions.

The Link between Local Advocacy
and Global Transformation

More than 20,000 civic networks and organizations working to tackle global policy issues have become active on the world stage - 90 percent of them in the last 30 years. These networks can amplify the voice of US social justice organizations by linking their work to similar efforts in other countries and to international rights frameworks. However, grassroots organizations often lack the time, finances and other resources to contribute to global conversations while focusing on the everyday well-being of their communities. Through the Social Change Leadership Network, RCLA provides US social change organizations with learning resources that enable them to incorporate a global worldview into their work and to more systematically direct their advocacy efforts globally.

What's New

Summer Series for Social Change 2010
Learn more about opportunities to read and discuss preeminent books on social change, meet new people and build community online and in-person.
» Learn more

Social Change Resources

Our social change resources are created with practitioners in mind and draw on the research RCLA has conducted side-by-side with social change leaders for more than seven years. They are designed to support work to foster collaborations, build the capacity of individuals and organizations, and share strategies to overcome challenges and build movements.

Training for Trainers: A Guide to Designing Interactive Trainings Using Popular Education Techniques
By Joan Minieri, March 2010
This handbook provides a step-by-step guide to designing trainings that engage participants in creative ways of learning. It includes fundamentals on different learning styles, the six steps for designing a training, facilitator tips for keeping participants energized, and a variety of sample activities. It is based on the Social Change Leadership Network's successful Trainings for Trainers.
» Access the handbook

Cooperative Inquiry Reports
Cooperative Inquiry is an action research method that enables a group of participants to use their own experience to generate insights around an issue of mutual concern. These reports document groups' findings on how to build and sustain movement-building organizations led by leaders of color, fundraise for social change organizations, and connect community organizing and art, among other topics.
» Access the reports

Narrative Inquiry Reports
These stories illuminate different aspects of leadership that social change leaders identify as central to their work and that may be of interest to other social change practitioners.
» Access the reports

Ethnography Reports
Ethnographies offer in-depth, rich portraits of leadership within selected organizations and communities.
» Access the reports

Social Media Tools for Social Change
RCLA's Social Change Leadership Network offers a guide to using social media to advance a social justice mission.
» Access the list of sites and how use them