March 21, 2002 | Read Time: 1 minute
Crafting a New Design for Civic Leadership evaluates a method of community leadership that the Pew Civic Entrepreneur Initiative put into practice in 10 cities in 1997. Based on the premise that every locality holds an abundance of untapped leadership, the Pew Partnership for Civic Change recruited people of diverse ages, cultures, and professions — from high-school students to grandmothers — to attend national training sessions that taught skills like conflict resolution and group dynamics. “Our goal was to pioneer new strategies to engage more citizens in community leadership and to equip them with the skills necessary to work effectively with others on behalf of their communities,” the report says. What follows are descriptions of challenges the program faced, such as difficulties reaching agreement on projects to pursue, as well as its successes. As a result of this program, community leaders in Lexington, Ky., created a citywide film festival, those in Honolulu organized an inter-island conference for nonprofit organizations to share ideas, and leadership programs were created in Anchorage and Jersey City, N.J., where none existed before. The report concludes that there is a wealth of untapped leadership that can flourish — given the right opportunities: “For this to happen, communities must marshal the patience and determination to confront deep divisions, to build multiple community tables for deliberation and action, and ultimately to support as a shared value the importance of strong, broad-based leadership to the long-term health of the community.”
