Community Leadership Program
The Community Leadership Program is an effort to help build new leadership capacity among the neighborhoods in the Green Impact Zone®. The zone's community ombudsmen actively recruit residents who want to make a difference in their communities to enroll in the program.
Developed by the city of Kansas City and the Mid-America Regional Council's Government Training Institute, the Community Leadership Program includes a progressive, skill-building curriculum delivered through a series of five certificate courses: Personal Strengths, Facilitation Skills, Relationship Building, Problem Solving and Community Building.
Each certificate course includes five, two-hour classes. The program is offered at no charge to residents of the Green Impact Zone and other parts of Kansas City, Mo.
More than 150 people, including many zone residents, took part in the program during its first year, and six people earned certificates in all five training series.
Zone residents Francine Nelson and Sharon Bass enrolled in the Community Leadership Program, which spurred their involvement in many other activities throughout the Green Impact Zone -- including co-chairing the city's Night Out Against Crime event.
Sharon and Francine have become extraordinary volunteers, taking on leadership roles that often involve volunteering more than 20 hours a week.
