Curricular Resources
These curricular resources fit with classes, trainings, or other learning activities focused on leadership, nonprofit and public management, strategic planning, community organizing, and social movements. They provide alternative understandings of leadership to expand students’ senses of appropriate courses of action when putting leadership theory into practice. Most of these resources come from research with social change organizations through the Ford’s Leadership for a Changing World program.
LEADERSHIP STORIES
Leadership stories illuminate different aspects of leadership work of interest to scholars, students and practitioners. Stories capture unique aspects of practitioners’ work in their own words, highlighting achievements in their organizations and communities. They both inspire others to solve their own challenges and show how leadership is put into action.
- Bringing salmon back to the Columbia river: How Native American tribes are implementing a wa- tershed-wide plan. Columbia River Inter-tribal Fish Commission. The Electronic Hallway and Research Center for Leadership in Action. By Jennifer Dodge and Jonathan Walters.
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How young women ex-offend- ers are transforming themselves: Turning pain into power. Center for Young Women’s Development. By Bethany Godsoe and Jonathan Walters.
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Using sensible legal strategies and unlikely alliances to achieve fairness for immigrants in Nebraska: A reasoned voice will take you far. Nebraska Appleseed Center for Law in the Public Interest. By Bethany Godsoe and Jonathan Walters.
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Fighting for pollution cleanup in a company town: Leveling the playing field. Silver Valley People’s Action Coalition (SVPAC). By Bethany Godsoe and Jonathan Walters.
Building Capacity
These stories focus on understanding capacity strengths and deficiencies in order to make prescriptions for capacity improvement. As underscored in many of the organizational self-assessment tools, the extent and quality of capacity in an organization is critical for fulfilling its mission.
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Building Capacity with Constituents and in Communities: Usage Note. By Connie Chaplan and David Harrison.
- Across Immigrant Communities: Serving Diverse Needs and Advocating for Policy Change: One Goal, One Voice. By Jennifer Dodge, David Gomez, and Jonathan Walters.
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Building Black Leadership on HIV/AIDS Issues: Unleashing the Power of Existing Communities and Organizations: Saving Our Own Lives. By Jennifer Dodge and Jonathan Walters.
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Building Community Power by Building Grassroots Leaders. By Tamara Buckley and Jonathan Walters.
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Building Justice for Immigrants and Refugees by Supporting Local Institutions and Magnifying Their Impact: The Power of Diverse Voices. By Erica Gabrielle Foldy and Jonathan Walters.
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Creating a Regional Transportation Authority in Detroit by Connecting City and Suburban Interests: A Different Kind of Stew. By Tamara Buckley and Jonathan Walters.
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Cultural Roots as a Source of Strength: Educating and Organizing a Fragmented Immigrant Community, Rediscovering Pride. By Erica Gabrielle Foldy and Jonathan Walters.
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Developing Leadership and Political Capacity among Laotian Refugees: Healing a Culture, Building a Community. By Tamara Buckley and Jonathan Walters.
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Enabling Low-Income Families to Buy Their Own Homes while Holding the Land in Trust for the Community: The Power of Balance. By Erica Gabrielle Foldy and Jonathan Walters.
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Engaging a New Generation of Native Americans in Cultural and Social Change: We Have to Reach Back. By Erica Gabrielle Foldy and Jonathan Walters.
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Engaging Traditionally Disenfranchised Residents in Community Development: Changing the Terms of the Struggle. By Beth Rosenthal and Jonathan Walters.
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From Service to Activism: How Latino Day Laborers and Domestic Workers are Advocating for Themselves: Creating 'Co-Authors of Justice'. By Erica Gabrielle Foldy and Jonathan Walters.
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How a Coalition of Immigrant Groups is Advocating for Broad Social and Political Change: Power in Diversity. By Jennifer Dodge, Sonia Ospina and Roy Sparrow.
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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. By Amy Brooks, Jennifer Dodge, and Jonathan Walters.
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Meeting the Challenges Faced by Miami's Haitian Community through Partnership and Consistency: Magnifying the Impact; Focusing on Common Cause: Haitian Women of Miami. By Angie Chan and Jonathan Walters.
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Serving Connected Needs in Appalachia: Homegrown Help in Appalachia. By Pei-Yao Chen and Jonathan Walters.
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Using Art and Theater to Support Organizing for Justice: Storytelling in the Name of Justice. By Amparo Hofmann-Pinilla, Sanjiv Rao, Bertha O’ Neal and Jonathan Walters.
Initiating Strategic Responses to Social Needs
These stories examine how organizations formulate strategic responses to pressing social needs. Many of these experiences contrast with the approaches of organizations with more established processes.
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Initiating Strategic Responses to Social Needs: Usage Note. By Connie Chaplan and David Harrison.
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A World Without Prisons: Improving Prisoners' Lives and Transforming the Justice System: Important Things to Tell. By Erica Gabrielle Foldy and Jonathan Walters.
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Building a Campaign for Workers' Rights and Rekindling a Culture: Sun of Justice Rising. By Jennifer Dodge, David Gomez, and Jonathan Walters.
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Changing Mandatory Drug Sentencing Laws on the Federal and State Levels: Putting a Human Face on Injustice: Reversing a Political Juggernaut. By Melinda Fine and Jonathan Walters.
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Developing Leadership and Political Capacity among Laotian Refugees: Healing a Culture, Building a Community. By Tamara Buckley and Jonathan Walters.
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Enabling Low-Income Families to Buy Their Own Homes while Holding the Land in Trust for Community: The Power of Balance. By Erica Gabrielle Foldy and Jonathan Walters.
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Meeting the Challenges Faced by Miami's Haitian Community through Partnership and Consistency: Magnifying the Impact; Focusing on a Common Cause: Haitian Women of Miami. By Angie Chan and Jonathan Walters.
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Organizing Communities to Protect West Virginia's Natural Environment: A Different Source of Power. By Bethany Godsoe and Jonathan Walters.
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Preventing Drilling in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge: The Gwich'in Tribes and Their Role in the National Policy Debate. By Jennifer Dodge and Jonathan Walters.
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Revitalizing a Community through Property Ownership: "A Place Worth Saving." By Sonia Ospina and Jonathan Walters.
Organizational Response to Evolving Social Needs
These stories focus on existing organizations that decide to pursue new or expanded purposes. These stories provide an opportunity to review how existing constraints can be overcome and how organizations respond to evolving needs.
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Organizational Responses to Evolving Social Needs: Usage Note. By Connie Chaplan and David Harrison.
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Creating a Regional Transportation Authority in Detroit by Connecting City and Suburban Interests: A Different Kind of Stew. By Tamara Buckley and Jonathan Walters.
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Creating Supportive Housing for People Living with HIV/AIDS: Local Lessons, National Strategies: A Place to Call Home. By Jennifer Dodge and Jonathan Walters.
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From Services to Activism: How Latino Day Laborers and Domestic Workers are Advocating for Themselves: Creating "Co-Authors of Justice." By Erica Gabrielle Foldy and Jonathan Walters.
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Justice for Janitors: How Immigrants are Organizing for Worker Rights: Your Hands Make Them Rich. By Sonia Ospina and Jonathan Walters.
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Preventing Homelessness and Creating Lasting Solutions through Housing Development, Service Provision and Advocacy: Staying the Course for a Cause. By Melinda Fine and Jonathan Walters.
ETHNOGRAPHIES
Ethnographies provide detailed accounts of organizations’ histories, their leadership dynamics, collaborations, transformations and development. Ethnographic studies can be an important additional tool in classroom case evaluation. These ethnographies may be used alone or in conjunction with leadership stories or case studies to bring depth and context to students’ understandings of a neighborhood, culture, organization, or community of interests.
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Use of Ethnographic Studies in Case Teaching: Usage Note. By Connie Chaplan and David Harrison.
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Aid to Children of Dependent Mothers: An Ethnographic Study. By Akinyele Umoja.
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Building Alliances: An Ethnography of Collaboration between Rural Organizing Project (ROP) and Causa in Oregon. By Lynn Stephen.
- Building alliances: Collaboration between CAUSA and the Rural Organizing Project (ROP) in Oregon. In Spanish: Formación de alianzas: Colaboración entre CAUSA y Rural Organizing Project (ROP) en Oregon. By Lynn Stephen, Jan Lanier, Ramón Ramírez, and Marcy Westerling.
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Each One Teach One: Learning Leadership at the Triangle Residential Option for Substance Abusers (TROSA). By Barbara Lau.
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Using a social entrepreneurial model to treat substance abuse: Building citizens, not just sober individuals. Triangle Residential Option for Substance Abusers (TROSA). By Bethany Godsoe, Jonathan Walters, and Barbara Lau.
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Leadership Development for Community Action: An Ethnographic Inquiry of the Northwest Federation of Community Organizations. By Lisa Weinberg.
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Líderes Campesinas: Grassroots Gendered Leadership, Community Organizing and Pedagogies of Empowerment. By Maylei Blackwell.
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Piecing Together the Fragments: An Ethnography of Leadership for Social Change in North Central Philadelphia 2004 -2005, The Village of Arts and Humanities. By Mary Hufford and Rosina Miller.
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Piecing together the fragments: An ethnography of leadership for social change in North Central Philadelphia 2004-2005. In Spanish: Uniendolos fragmentos: Liderazgo para el Cambio Social en el Areanorcentral de Filadelfia, 2004–2005. By Mary T. Hufford and Rosina S Miller
- Until All of Us are Home: The Process of Leadership at Project HOME. By Kathleen Hall.
- Until all of us are home: The process of leadership at project H.O.M.E. In Spanish: Hasta que todos tengamos techo: El proceso de liderazgo en el proyecto H.O.M.E. By Kathleen Hall.
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Waging Democracy in the Kingdom of Coal: The Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition and the Movement for Social and Environmental Justice in Central Appalachia. By Mary Hufford.
- When workers take the lead: Leadership development at the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON). In Spanish: Cuando los trabajadores asumen el liderazgo: Desarrollo del Liderazgo en la Red Nacional de Jornaleros (NDLON). By Nik Theodore.
COOPERATIVE INQUIRY REPORTS
These resources present findings from Cooperative Inquiry (CI) processes. CI processes are a participatory action research methodology useful for practitioners sharing a specific question or anyone interested in learning more about practitioner-oriented research. CI offers a rich opportunity for practitioners to reflect together on the issues affecting their work, while providing a space to learn from others and envision action to bring change in their practices and organizations. Based on cycles of group action and reflection, CI looks to create new practice-grounded knowledge, deepen participants' leadership skills, and strengthen relationships among group members.
- Taking Back the Work: A Cooperative Inquiry into Leaders of Color in Movement-Building Organizations. By Angie Chan and Linda Powell Pruitt with Will Allen, Joyce Johnson, Ricardo Martinez, Reggie Moore, Richard Moore, Ai-Jen Poo, and Cidra Sebastien.
- Integrating human rights, social justice, and sustainability. New York, NY: Research Center for Leadership in Action. By Diana Bustamente, Anthony Flaccavento, Sarah Ludwig, Juan E. Rosario, Isabel Toscano, Mily Treviño-Sauceda, Imani Walker, Lisa Diane White, Sandra Hayes, and Lyle Yorks.
- Building a movement that reflects an organic relationship between the transformation of the self and the transformation of the social order. New York, NY: Research Center for Leadership in Action. By Meredith Herr, Theresa Holden, Peggy Berryhill, Derwyn Bunton, Bob Fulkerson, Roger Sherman, Loris Ann Taylor, and LuAnn Leonard.
- Better together: Peer-led fundraising workshops for social change. New York, NY: Research Center for Leadership in Action. By Teresa Holden, John Arvizu, Suzanne Bring, Michele Nicole Johnson, Alice Kim, Kevin Lind, Sonia Ospina, and Beatrice Shelby.
- Seeking the common values of successful social change leadership. By Susana Almanza, Monica Byrne-Jiminez, Michelle de la Uz, Stan Eilert, Theresa Holden, Mary Houghton, Linda Smith, and Deborah Warren.
- Can the arts change the world? The transformative power of the arts in fostering and sustaining social change: A Leadership for a Changing World Cooperative Inquiry. New York, NY: Research Center for Leadership in Action. In Spanish: Puede el arte cambiar el mundo? By Arnold Aprill, Elise Holliday, Fahari Jeffers, Nobuku Miyamoto, Abby Scher, Diana Spatz, Richard Townsell, Lily Yeh, and Lyle Yorks.
- Don’t just do something, sit there: Helping others become more strategic, conceptual, and creative. By Lucia Alcántara, Larry Ferlazzo, Reverend Tyrone Hicks, Victoria Kovari, Craig McGarvey, Mary Ochs, and Lyle Yorks.
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Leaders as lead learners: A cooperative inquiry into the question; how can we be more effective in helping others become more strategic, conceptual, and creative in their thinking? By Lucia Alcántara,Victoria Kovari, Reverend Tyrone Hicks, Larry Ferlazzo, Craig McGarvey, Mary Ochs, and Lyle Yorks.
- Successful social change leading and its values: Discovery through cooperative inquiry. By Susana Almanza, Monica Byrne-Jiminez, Michelle de la Uz, Stan Eilert, Theresa Holden, Mary Houghton, Linda Smith, and Deborah Warren. 2004.
- A dance that creates equals: Unpacking leadership development. In Spanish: Una danza que crea iguales. By Denise Altvater, Bethany Godsoe, LaDon James, Barbara Miller, Sonia Ospina, Tyletha Samuels, Cassandra Shaylor, Lateefah Simon, and Mark Valdez.
- Social justice leadership and movement building. New York, NY: Research Center for Leadership in Action. By Dale Asis, Janet Fout, Sylvia Herrera, Sarah James, Lewis Jordan, Wing Lam, D. Milo Mumgaard, Salvador Reza, Linda Sartor, and Ruth Wise.
- Time for change: A toolkit for transformation. New York, NY: Research Center for Leadership in Action. By Theresa Holden, Meredith Herr, Bob Fulkerson, LuAnn Leonard, Roger Sherman, and Loris Ann Taylor.