Beginning on March 2, 2015, the D4 Civic Leadership Institute welcomed its second cohort of activist leaders and community champions who committed five consecutive Monday evenings to participate in this shared learning experience.
The D4 Civic Leadership Institute is a free, five session program that prepares residents and coalition leaders to engage in community benefit campaigns and legislative policy priorities that are impacting our respective communities. D4 and our CLI are generously funded through the WK Kellogg Foundation.
D4 has partnered with the University of Michigan-Dearborn to develop the curriculum and bring together an inspiring team of practitioners and academics with the expertise needed to bring the Civic Leadership Institute model to Detroit. Originating in the late 1990s by labor and community leaders in San Jose who wanted to build a movement for ensuring that economic development in their region delivered the maximum benefits to working families, Civic Leadership Institutes empower participants to become champions and advocates for equitable development in their neighborhoods.
As D4 embraces 21st century technology, we utilized social media as a method to market and recruit for the second offering of the Civic Leadership Institute. Using platforms like Twitter and Facebook we reached out to audiences that perhaps get overlooked with traditional media alone. Once again, the response was robust; the second cohort of D4 Civic Leadership Institute included a large contingent from the environmental and sustainability communities as well as several labor organizations.
To give you a brief recap of the D4 Civic Leadership Institute:
In week one, titled "Metro Detroit - Challenging Times, New Opportunities", Dr. David Reynolds lectured about what is happening to working people in our metropolitan region. By looking at the current wave of corporate investment in the city and its potential to benefit working families, CLI participants worked through group exercises that crystallized the interconnectivity of our financial fates and the need for us to get organized.
In week two, titled, "Learning from Our Past, Looking Toward the Future" Dr. Reynolds' presentation on the historical context for the inequitable distribution of resources in our region and the impact this had on people of color sparked a vigorous discussion and personal sharing of experiences by CLI participants.
In week three, titled, "Elements of a Community Benefits Agenda", D4's own Jeff Jones dissected community benefits agreements, orders and the broader community benefits agenda.
A new addition to the Civic Leadership Institute curriculum, week three featured a Labor Panel of local experts discussing the current situation of working people in the city of Detroit. As one example of the exciting new information presented by our panelists, Dr. Alicia Renee Farris from Restaurant Opportunity Center (ROC), an advocacy group for restaurant workers, provided some very eye-opening statistics about the dire situation of many her constituents.
In week four, titled, "Power Analysis and Further Developing Our Campaign" the group conducted a power analysis of the state fairground's development. The CLI participants broke into groups to identify various sets of players, including the organized and active opposition, organized allies or supporting groups, and unorganized constituencies or informal groups, and how they might influence key decision-makers.
For the week five graduation celebration on the evening of March 30, 2015, our graduates and a host of relatives and friends, dined and fellowshipped in celebration of their accomplishment. Attendees also received information about how to continue their learning journey by pursuing degree programs at Henry Ford Community College and the University of Michigan-Dearborn.
The keynote speaker for this CLI graduation was Detroit City Council Member Raquel Castaneda Lopez. Council Member Castaneda Lopez received a rousing reception from the audience. It was a humorous coincidence that the Councilmember was highly favored as a key supporter in the power analysis during week 4 of the CLI. Council Member Castaneda Lopez gave a heartfelt address to the CLI graduates extolling the virtues of their respective efforts for positive social change.
In what is becoming a CLI tradition, Jeff Jones officially dismissed the Civic Leadership Institute, by having all those in attendance join hands in a circle. This community circle, reminiscent of an important practice of the region's indigenous peoples, encourages us to both continue our connections with one another, and to go out as champions for equitable development in metropolitan Detroit!
Now with a second class of alumni completing the Civic Leadership Institute, the ranks of the D4 family continues to grow. D4 proudly salutes these dynamic and committed individuals who have the audacity to believe that development in our region can actually benefit not only the developer, but ordinary citizens as well. So as the season of growth heats up, let's remain vigilant, informed and connected - and stay tuned for future Civic Leadership Institutes in Fall 2015!
