Who Are Community Leaders

Rev. ed. of: Successful community leadership: a skills guide for volunteers and professionals. c1997.

The development of leadership capacities addresses a vital and continuing need in communities and organizations as they attempt to adapt to a wide range of social, economic, environmental, and political changes. Leadership development activities that focus on building new skills and fostering new ideas directly shape local and organizational capacity. At the organizational level, leadership is a valued resource as organizations are faced with challenges of limited resources, funding, and other capacities. Community leadership operates within a different domain; an environment with different dynamics, structures, and goals. Community leadership is distinctive in that leaders often do not have formal training or authority to dictate and facilitate change. Instead, community leaders must rely on informal networks of diverse citizens, each with a unique local capacity, as the basis for change. This book brings together classic and contemporary articles drawn from Community Development. Divided into two sections, the book begins with a range of seminal leadership theory and conceptualization pieces. These have been instrumental in shaping leadership development in a wide range of settings. Following the theory section, a variety of research and application chapters are presented. These chapters operationalize theory through applied research and programming, and provide replicable frameworks for future research and programs. This book is a compilation of articles published in the journal Community Development.

"This edited book project will include key academic concepts as transformative learning, community resilience, cultural transformation, and transformational leadership with the objective being to identify the vision and associated values being applied during a challenge or a cultural change process particularly in women"--

Tools for people seeking to improve their communities This significant guide puts the tools of democracy into everyone’s hands. Based on the best of Blandin Foundation’s 20-year experience in developing community leaders, it gives community members—like yourself—the tools to bring people together to make changes. Here are some of the useful resources you’ll find: Identifying Community Assets Community Problem Analysis Accessing Community Data Appreciative Inquiry Translating Vision to Action Interpersonal Communication for Leaders Managing Interpersonal Conflict as a Leader Building Social Capital Across Cultures Network Mapping: Locating Your Social Capital Stakeholders Analysis Building Coalitions Building Effective Community Teams Recruiting and Sustaining Volunteers Getting the Most from Your Meetings

"This course was designed to sharpen social analysis and develop skills in leaders of low-income and marginalized communities in Nova Scotia. Taught by two experienced community workers and funded by two major Canadian foundations, it graduated 50 students over four years. Many joined the program’s advisory committee and helped the course evolve further. Grassroots Leaders Building Skills includes the complete course, with agendas for 25 three-hour sessions, detailed directions for facilitators and spiral-bound handouts for photocopying. Many sessions can stand alone as workshops on topics such as diversity, ideology, community development and building strategies for social change. Plans are included for adapting the sessions to middle class participants, post-secondary classroom settings, or as a series of intensive workshops. Introductory essays explore the theories behind the program and its pedagogy, the logistical organization and the experience of graduates. This powerful course is a valuable resource to anyone teaching social analysis and community organization skills."--pub. desc. "

The COVID-19 virus outbreak has rocked the world and it is widely accepted that there can be no return to the pre-pandemic society of 2019. However, many suggestions for the future of society and the planet are aimed at national governments, international bodies and society in general. Drawing on a decade of research by an internationally renowned expert, this book focuses on how cities and communities can lead the way in developing recovery strategies that promote social, economic and environmental justice. It offers new thinking tools for civic leaders and activists as well as practical suggestions on how we can co-create a more inclusive post COVID-19 future for us all.

A manual for volunteers and professionals in community work, showing techniques and skills to improve community group work. It demonstrates how to manage problems of procedure, process and people, such as how to create an effective structure, conduct a successful meeting and achieve objectives.

As the United States faces increasingly difficult and trenchant public health problems, from the Zika virus to the obesity epidemic to the opioid crisis, population health is a growing area of concern for public health organizations, particularly how to care for populations effectively on a shoestring budget. Though little discussed in the mainstream media, community health improvement organizations are increasingly partnering and forming coalitions with local hospitals, working together to improve traditional medical care. But with the pace of change in health care policy, these coalitions must be thoughtfully lead and managed. This new book from John W. Moran, Senior Quality Advisor to the Public Health Foundation, demonstrates how to build, operate, manage, and sustain a community health improvement coalition once it is formed. Offering the reader practical examples and guidance on forming and sustaining a community health coalition, this book demonstrates the ways in which the success of a coalition depends upon a stable anchor organization and a committed leader. Chapters focus on each of these roles and how to achieve success in each: examining what needs improvement, why it is important to improve now, how it will be done, and where in the community improvement can have the most impact. The last chapter offers a case study exploring a community health coalition and leader to illustrate application of the concepts introduced throughout the book. Transforming Community Health through Leadership is designed specifically to prepare governmental public health, health care, and community leaders to take advantage of the ever-changing landscape of public health and health care in concrete ways to improve population health.