Leadership and Management for Social Change

This course is designed to support the growth of mid-career professionals working in social change by developing their leadership and management skills. The format of the course will be three weeklong intensive sessions in different parts of the country over the course of the year, with other coursework and occasional classes by zoom in between.The nation faces multiple, intersecting crises including climate change, economic inequality, structural racism and nativism and threats to our democracy. The range, complexity, and difficulty of the issues we face can only met by cadres of highly skilled and diverse leaders with the imagination and skills to design and implement innovative, long-term solutions. This class is designed specifically to support diverse leaders, particularly people of color, women, and people from working class backgrounds, to take on greater positions of responsibility in social change organizations and movements. This course will provide learners with an immersive, cohort-based experience that teaches a broad range of concepts and ideas related to leadership and management, exposes students to parts of the social change eco-system and issues with which they may be unfamiliar, and provides practical tools for navigating organizational life, coalitions, and social movements. An essential element will be use of practical real-world cases, reflection on participants’ own experience, and engagement with other students and mentors.