Leadership Stories: Building Capacity

RCLA has partnered with the Evans School of Public Affairs at the University of Washington to produce these Electronic Hallway resources. The Leadership Stories and associated Usage Notes are an especially good fit with courses on leadership, nonprofit and public management, strategic planning, community organizing, and social movements.

Leadership Stories: Building Capacity

Expansion of community capacity is a significant issue facing many nonprofit organizations, especially those working towards social change. Building capacity through internal or external means are distinct aspects of capacity building. That is, an organization that is concerned about insufficient capacity might decide to engage community members within its own organizational structure, outside that structure, or both. This decision may depend on any of a number of factors, including the preferences of those being engaged and the availability of partner organizations.

As many of the organizational self-assessment tools underscore, the extent and quality of capacity is a huge determinant of an organization’s ability to fulfill its mission. These Leadership Stories will enhance classroom examination and understanding of capacity strengths and deficiencies and prescriptions for capacity improvement, both of which are core learning approaches.

Usage Note

Building Capacity with Constituents and in Communities: Usage Note

Leadership Stories

• Across Immigrant Communities: Serving Diverse Needs and Advocating for Policy Change: One Goal, One Voice
• Building Black Leadership on HIV/AIDS Issues: Unleashing the Power of Existing Communities and Organizations: Saving Our Own Lives
• Building Community Power by Building Grassroots Leaders
• Building Justice for Immigrants and Refugees by Supporting Local Institutions and Magnifying Their Impact: The Power of Diverse Voices
• Creating a Regional Transportation Authority in Detroit by Connecting City and Suburban Interests: A Different Kind of Stew
• Cultural Roots as a Source of Strength: Educating and Organizing a Fragmented Immigrant Community, Rediscovering Pride
• Developing Leadership and Political Capacity among Laotian Refugees: Healing a Culture, Building a Community
• Enabling Low-Income Families to Buy Their Own Homes while Holding the Land in Trust for the Community: The Power of Balance
• Engaging a New Generation of Native Americans in Cultural and Social Change: We Have to Reach Back
• Engaging Traditionally Disenfranchised Residents in Community Development: Changing the Terms of the Struggle
• From Service to Activism: How Latino Day Laborers and Domestic Workers are Advocating for Themselves: Creating 'Co-Authors of Justice'
• How a Coalition of Immigrant Groups is Advocating for Broad Social and Political Change: Power in Diversity
• How North Carolina's Religious Congregations are Building a Volunteer Network to Sustain People with HIV/AIDS: Getting to Know You: The Power of Personal Relationships
• Meeting the Challenges Faced by Miami's Haitian Community through Partnership and Consistency: Magnifying the Impact; Focusing on Common Cause: Haitian Women of Miami
• Serving Connected Needs in Appalachia: Homegrown Help in Appalachia
• Using Art and Theater to Support Organizing for Justice: Storytelling in the Name of Justice