The skills courses in the Community Leadership program bring graduate and undergraduate level courses to the public, and credits can be transferred if you choose to pursue a degree. These hybrid, instructor-led practical courses mean you can immediately apply what you’re learning to your work. These courses prepare aspiring and practicing leaders with the skills and experience needed to generate transformative social change.
Taught by subject matter experts, the Community Leadership Skills Courses emphasize practical skills, deep dives into crucial topics, and take only 5 weeks to complete!
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Our Courses
Asset Based Community Development
Taught by Jessica Wyatt.
This course will address the fundamentals of Asset Based Community Development (ABCD), how to practically implement ABCD in students’ daily professional practice while developing a community of practice using ABCD, as well as, becoming ABCD practitioners in the field. Working through an ABCD process, participants can move towards whole-community mobilization through mapping the capacities assets of individuals, associations, and institutions while building relationships.
Budgeting for Community Impact
Taught by Candace Chance.
Have you heard the saying, Put your money where your mouth is? If not, it is a saying that means to follow through on something you said. Organizations say a lot through their marketing, their grant proposals, and ultimately through their vision, mission, and values. But there’s one major way to see if they’re really walking the walk or just talking: their BUDGET! An organization’s budget is their accountability to the things that they say. This course will teach students how to align their values and their intended impact with their budgets so that they can stand in integrity.
Community Organizing
Taught by Denise Griffin Johnson & Lane Victorson.
Community Organizing is a practice that supports community development, community cohesiveness, community leadership, and builds community capacity to define, embrace, and create culture and belonging; giving people agency over what they value. The practice of Community Organizing identifies community leadership, builds facilitation skills, planning skills, resource development, increases connections to people and places, and most importantly teaches how best to engage in public discourse so that many perspectives are heard, understood, and valued. The course will provide students with some practical skills for organizing, while also engaging in the framework of traditional organizing and cultural organizing.
Digital Storytelling for Community Leadership
Taught by Charlotte Keniston.
This course will guide students through the process of creating a digital story and also give them the tools to facilitate digital storytelling workshops themselves. Digital stories are short-format videos in which the creator narrates a story from their own life; they are often connected to broader themes and can be used to tell the story of a person, organization, community, or movement. Digital storytelling uses simple digital technology, such as cell phone photography and audio recording, and user-friendly, free video editing software. Take a look at some DIGITAL STORY VIDEO examples. No previous digital video or photography experience is necessary. In this course, students will create one 3-5 minute digital story and develop a sample curriculum for facilitating a workshop in a community or organization of their choice.
Branding and Messaging in the Social Sector
Taught by Gayle Carney.
Participants will uncover their organization’s personality and where it stands in the current landscape, explore their audience’s needs and values, and identify concrete steps toward a more effective brand.
Grant Writing for Social Change
Taught by Meghann Shutt.
In this five session class, students will learn the fundamentals of grant proposal writing including: ethics in fundraising, finding and vetting funding opportunities, analyzing grant opportunities, usually referred to as Requests for Proposals (RFPs), organizing, writing and submitting compelling proposals, and the do’s and don’ts of teaming with organizations. Throughout the class students will choose one project to develop throughout the five weeks we work together. The steps of this applied project will be to: identify, write, and submit a grant proposal for a real nonprofit organization. All assignments will be written exercises that will receive feedback from the instructor and contribute to the ultimate class goal of submitting an actual proposal by class end.
Grassroots Community Advocacy
Taught by Tom Coale & Janssen Evelyn.
This course will focus on the tenets of grassroots community advocacy at the local level. From stop signs to school funding, local government plays a fundamental role in designing communities for people to thrive.
Places and Placemaking
Taught by Joby Taylor.
Participants will learn techniques to develop a strong “sense of place” and powerful new skills for placemaking in community settings.
Podcasting Essentials
Taught by Rob Lee & Ann Tropea.
Learn the art of podcasting from conception to publication in this engaging and hands-on course. Discover the essentials of planning a podcast, mastering the use of equipment, editing techniques, and explore effective marketing strategies.
Events and Programming as Inclusive Process
Taught by Ashley Bush & Katie Long.
This course will guide students through the steps of program development and implementation that reflects community culture and priorities. “Programming as Inclusive Process” seeks to help students develop programming which connects multiple communities through shared activities and spaces, and addresses the importance of creating programs and events which respond to community needs, feedback, and assets. The course will equip students with an understanding of the concept of inclusive programming and the value of community engagement to create sustainable community programs and events.
Participatory Decision Making
Taught by Kayleigh Mrowka & Lauren Mauriello.
What does it mean to address problems and issues through deliberation for the purposes of increasing opportunities for participation, deliberation and influence, rather than for the purpose of persuasion or to impose a predetermined solution? This course engages leaders in exploring this question as they build skills in designing and implementing collaborative decision making processes to reach collective, legitimate conclusions to real issues.
Social Justice Leadership & Dialogue
Taught by Ciara Christian & Jasmine Lee.
This course is designed for people who have a deep interest in issues related to race, social justice, power, privilege, oppression, intercultural dialogue, and the ways such issues influence our leadership abilities and interests.
Foundations of Strategic Planning
Taught by Kate Scherr-Adams.
Strategic planning helps organizations set priorities, focus energy and resources, strengthen operations, and establish agreement for intended outcomes. Engaging communities is imperative to successful outcomes, trust building, and equity.