New Report: Leadership Programs Can Help Solve Racial Inequalities in Communities Across the Country Key Methods and Recommendations

Oakland, CA (PRWEB) September 8, 2010

Leadership programs can help solve racial inequalities in access to education, healthcare, income and wealth, but many current approaches to leadership development actually maintain and promote racial inequalities, according to a new report released today by the Leadership Learning Community and other thought leaders in the leadership development and racial equity fields.

The report, How to Develop and Support Leadership that Contributes to Racial Justice, suggests that a large number of leadership programs associate leadership with equal opportunity and individualism. This thinking does not recognize that current systems (i.e. policy, culture and institutional practices) can cause racial identity to limit ones access to life opportunities. It also focuses too narrowly on changing the behavior of individual leaders. Instead, leadership programs should: 1) make their programs more accessible for people of color; 2) help participants understand how race limits access to opportunities in other words, the impact of structural racism; and 3) promote collective leadership. This approach will help participants work together to tackle the systems that maintain racial inequalities.

This report offers strategies and positive examples to inform and inspire the thousands of leadership programs in the U.S. to redefine their approach, noted Deborah Meehan, Executive Director at the Leadership Learning Community and one of the authors. One example of a program leveraging collective leadership to address educational success, an area where there are significant racial disparities, is the Leadership in Action Program (LAP) by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. LAP brings together 25-40 leaders from public, private and community organizations to collaborate across multiple sectors to reach a common goal: increase the number of children prepared to learn when entering school in the city of Baltimore, MD. Between 2001 and 2009, the school readiness of Baltimore city kindergartners increased from 28% to 64%.

According to PolicyLink, supporting people of color to take on leadership roles within their communities is a prerequisite for reducing poverty and disparities. There is an opportunity to increase the access that people of color have to leadership roles by improving the current approach to leadership development. Leadership programs need to be more accessible to people of color who have been excluded from many opportunities and give them access to training, resources and networks. Also, program training should help participants understand how policies, culture and institutions are part of a complex system that maintains racial inequalities. Finally, the trainings need to promote collective leadership that connects participants across organizations and sectors to change the system.

The Greenlining Institutes Academy Director, Danielle Trimiew, said, In our leadership development work, we are always striving to implement best practices. This report offers compelling evidence for the need to incorporate a structural racism framework into our leadership training. Moving forward, we are going to emphasize systems thinking and analysis in our curriculum so that participants can learn strategies to address structural racism. This knowledge is going to help us train our participants to better serve low-income communities.

With appropriate support, people of color will have influence at policy tables and be better equipped to create solutions for their communities.

Other recommendations include:

Open Conversation about Race: Provide time and space for participants to talk about race and their racial identity. This gives participants an opportunity to transform their thoughts and feelings about race and how it impacts their work.
Training: Incorporate elements of racial justice training, i.e. an analysis of structural racism. This is different from diversity training, which focuses on interpersonal relations and cultural awareness.
Tracking: Monitor changes in whether or not people of color have increased access to leadership in communities and organizations, and more of an impact on policy making. Track the changes over the long term.
Funding: Provide adequate funding to leadership programs that promote racial justice. Programs should also help participants understand how to access resources.
We have a rich history in community leadership development and we know the criticality of addressing structural racism and promoting racial healing to remove barriers to opportunity, said Dr. Gail C. Christopher, Vice PresidentProgram Strategy with the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. We are excited because this is an important report that proactively addresses the impact of structural racism on leadership development.

The publication is based on conversations with more than 150 individuals and organizations running and funding leadership programs across the nation, and an extensive review of existing literature in both racial equity and leadership development.

A free PDF of the report and a list of resources are available at http://bit.ly/LeadershipRaceForm and http://bit.ly/LeadershipRaceInfo .

The publication is co-authored by: Terry Keleher, Applied Research Center (ARC); Sally Leiderman, Center for Assessment and Policy Development (CAPD); Deborah Meehan, Leadership Learning Community (LLC); Elissa Perry, Think.Do.Repeat.; Maggie Potapchuk, MP Associates; Professor john a. powell, Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity at The Ohio State University; and Hanh Cao Yu, Ph.D., Social Policy Research Associates (SPR).

This report is the first in a series of publications, the Leadership for a New Era Series, launched by the Leadership Learning Community in 2009 to promote inclusive, networked and collective leadership approaches. The series is funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota Foundation, The California Endowment, David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Evelyn & Walter Haas, Jr. Fund, Kansas Leadership Center, and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. Funding for printing and distributing this publication, the first in the series, was provided by the Annie E. Casey Foundation and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. More information about Leadership for a New Era: http://www.leadershipforanewera.org .

The following individuals are available for interviews:

National Record-A-Thon Celebrates "Different Ways to Read Across America"

Princeton, NJ (Vocus/PRWEB) February 28, 2011

Across the U.S. this week, a chorus of authors and celebrities will join thousands of volunteers all lending their voices to a unique initiative making books accessible for students, veterans and other individuals with learning differences.

Staged by the nonprofit Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic (RFB&D), the national Record-A-Thon runs concurrent with the National Education Associations Read Across America campaign and peaks on March 2, celebrating the birthday of beloved childrens book author Dr. Seuss.

At each of RFB&Ds 19 recording studios throughout the country, volunteer readers will log extra hours at the microphone to transform printed textbooks into easy-to-navigate audiobooks enabling hundreds of thousands of people with visual and learning disabilities to access the content of these books to help them achieve educational success.

Our Record-A-Thon is a tour de force of volunteerism, philanthropy, and community engagement, says Andrew Friedman, president and CEO of RFB&D. By mobilizing thousands of volunteers to record more books, raise crucial funds, and drive public attention toward the potential of millions of individuals with learning differences, we are truly celebrating Different Ways to Read Across America.

RFB&D launched the Record-A-Thon in New York City last week with the help of Barbara Walters, Joy Behar, and Sherri Shepherd, co-hosts of ABCs "The View," who recorded texts to add to the worlds largest library of accessible audiobooks. A fourth co-host of "The View," Elisabeth Hasselbeck, will record this week, along with Michael Gargiulo, anchor of WNBCs "Today in NY," and popular childrens book authors John Marciano ("Madeline Goes to the White House"), and Peter Brown ("The Curious Garden"). Author, journalist and blogger Jeff Jarvis ("What Would Google Do?") will also participate this week.

At RFB&Ds Los Angeles studio, childrens book titles will be brought to life by two-time Grammy Award winner Tia Carrere, actors Esai Morales (The Mambo Kings and Caprica), Sheryl Lee ("Twin Peaks), Katee Sackhoff (Battlestar Gallactica and 24), and a host of major TV news anchors from the region. In Palo Alto, Super Bowl-winning quarterback and ESPN commentator Steve Young will read, along with Jon Miller, voice of the San Francisco Giants. The Palo Alto studio will also honor one of its most remarkable volunteers Jane Seaman, who started volunteering in 1967 and has logged over 15,000 hours (more than 1.7 years) of service.

Other RFB&D studios around the country are brimming with activity this week. In Athens, Georgia, Mayor Nancy Denson will be honorary chair and a guest reader; and in Princeton, New Jersey, acclaimed poet BJ Ward has already been logging time at the microphone. In Phoenix, ABC-15s Katie Raml will share her voice along with local authors and legislators. A full list of Record-A-Thon studios can be found here.

The national Record-A-Thon campaign is sponsored by PLEXTALK, a manufacturer of assistive technology devices for people with print disabilities like blindness and dyslexia. Visit Plextalks new Facebook page here.

Founded in 1948, RFB&D serves more than 300,000 K-12, college and graduate students, as well as veterans and lifelong learners all of whom are blind, visually impaired, dyslexic or have other disabilities that prohibit them from reading standard print. RFB&D's collection of more than 64,000 digital textbooks and literature titles delivered through internet downloads and available on Macs and PCs, CD and various assistive technology devices is the largest of its kind in the world. More than 5,500 volunteers across the U.S. help make RFB&Ds content available, which students rely on to achieve educational success and entry into the workforce. RFB&D, a 501(c)3 nonprofit, is funded by grants from the U.S. Department of Education, state and local education programs, and the generous contributions of individuals, foundations and corporations.

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