Ten years ago, I was a community organizer with an ambitious vision for a brighter future. Filled with the desire to learn and the familiar blend of nervousness and thrill that comes with venturing into new horizons, I enrolled in the Leadership, Organizing and Action program with Marshall Ganz. The program transformed my perspective as I unearthed answers for lingering questions about the world — my life has not been the same since then.
What continues to leave me in awe ten years later is the constant transformative effect that leadership practices have on people, even the ones that have been in this line of work for long. This nonstop evolution and growth through action, research and dialogue leading to a lifelong learning journey is nothing short of fascinating.
Celebrating this manner of change and leadership development, the Leading Change Network announces one of its biggest events to date: the first Annual Community Meet!
Joined by Marshall Ganz and members from our community, we will explore powerful stories that shape our world and the community of organizing: a token of gratitude to the value of community; one that supports, nurtures and illuminates.
We will also dive deeper into some of the highlights of our Annual Report, and bring you onboard with our programs and plans for the coming years!
We will hold the event twice — a testament to our global community across many different time zones.
Don’t forget to claim your spot; we look forward to learning and celebrating together!
Upcoming learning events & opportunities
Hosted by LCN
“How Organizers Can Prepare for the Crises to Come” special workshop
In these times of perpetual crises, the need to learn how to respond effectively couldn’t be more urgent.
Join us at “How Organizers Can Prepare for the Crises to Come” special workshop by Steve Hughes from the European Community Organizing Network (ECON) on how organizers can prepare and respond to crises with agency, purpose, and strategy to create change!
This event is only for active LCN and ECON Members.
When: June 8th Wednesday 10am-12pm Central European Time / 1:30-3:30 India Time / 6-8pm Australian Eastern Time
Annual Community Meet
Our first ever Annual Community Meet is a collective celebration of our international community and its invaluable contribution to the global presence of our network!
Come listen to Marshall Ganz reflect on our journey as a community from Leading Change Project (back in 2009) to the Leading Change Network, learn about what LCN has been up to and what the coming years hold, and hear directly from leaders who are creating change and building power in their communities.
As a testament to our people around the globe, the Annual Community Meet is held twice across different time zones.
When:
June 16th, Thursday @ 7:00 – 8:30 AM Pacific Time | 9:00 am – 10:30 AM Central Time | 10:00 AM – 11:30 AM Eastern Time | 4:00 – 5:30 pm Central European Time
June 21st, Tuesday @ 10:00 PM 11:30 PM Eastern Time | June 22nd, Wednesday @ 7:30 9:00 AM India Standard Time | 12:00 1:30 PM Australian Eastern Time
How: Click here to claim your place at the event
Where: Online on Zoom
Orientation to Organizing with We The People Michigan
August 18th Thursday 9am – 12pm Eastern Time
Come learn about the basics of our organizing and public narrative practice in this introductory session and one of the most popular sessions at LCN!
For this session, LCN is partnering up with our member organization We The People Michigan to learn from their state-wide campaign to protect democracy in Michigan in the wake of the 2020 Presidential elections in the US as a case study.
We will take you through the six leadership practices of our community organizing framework – public narrative, relationship building, structuring a team, strategizing, moving people to action, and coaching – that are core to turning the resources of our communities into the power they need to achieve the change they want.
When: August 18th Thursday 9am – 12pm Eastern Time
Public Narrative Coach Training Program Summer 2022
So you took a Public Narrative workshop and found something powerful in the framework, but what next? How to carry this craft forward in your life and bring it to your organization or community for even bigger impact? Become a coach with us!
This summer, LCN will be offering a first-of-its-kind training program for Public Narrative participants to become Public Narrative coaches. Over the course of 8 weeks, a cohort of 25 new coaches will train in the craft, content, and process of Public Narrative coaching.
Click here to know more and apply for the program!
Coaching & Support Program
All leaders face challenges in their organizing work and narrative crafting. Overcoming those obstacles is best done through an experienced, supportive space—we are here to help!
Check out our newly relaunched coaching & support program to take your work to the next level, you can get tailored coaching from our network of expert coaches on the following areas:
- Public Narrative
- Campaign
- Leadership Challenges
- Curriculum Adaptation/Design
- Preparing for coaching or upfront training in workshops
The program is open for LCN members and non-members. Our Members receive 2 free sessions annually.
Register now; we look forward to learning together!
Click here to learn more about the program
Hosted by the LCN Community
In-person Organizing Workshop by WiLD
The Wild Project’s 3.5-day workshop on Leadership, Organizing, and Action will be held July 20th-23rd in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Participants are intentionally recruited in teams of 5-8 people with an organizing project focus. This training will be opened up nationally and they will train facilitators beforehand, so many of you can lead your own small groups.
Click here to learn more and apply for the workshop
Building Skills for Change
In this intensive six-day program between June 17 – June 22, participants will learn how to empower, achieve change, and build a strong foundation in the fundamentals of community organizing.
Join the Building Skills for Change program by Hollyhock and Institute for Change Leaders, as Olivia Chow leads us through a learning journey to master key leadership practices.
Read more details and register through the program’s page here.
Narratives4Change: Capitalizing Public Narratives in the Organising of Grassroots Roma Women
This online international seminar is aimed at opening the dialogue about the current challenges and opportunities for Roma women organizing at the Spanish and European level, mainly in both the field of education and the field of health and gender violence prevention, with speakers from the policy, advocacy, and academic sphere.
The seminar will be held on June 21 and will mark the end of the Narratives4change project led by Dr. Emilia Aiello between 2019 and 2022.
You can learn more about this event and register here!
Trainings and Resources by Social Movement Technologies (SMT)
Campaigners and activists recognize they must use digital tools and tactics like never before to build people power and push for action.
Social Movement Technologies (SMT) offers brilliant opportunities in the form of trainings and resources designed to meet this need—some of the opportunities offered are free of charge.
You can check the upcoming events on their website here.
Exciting news from our community
#OpenSource conversation with Marshall Ganz by Le Next Level
In Le Next Levels’s #OpenSource sessions, organizers and movement leaders share their experience, expertise and lessons learned with other organizers and movement leaders in order to help them tackle the issues they may be facing. These sessions are open to members of organizations who are currently or have been coached by Le Next Level.
Last session brought together about 15 participants with Marshall Ganz and Céline Lebrun-Shaath, to exchange knowledge and ideas on a variety of issues and challenges in their organizing work with Muslim women, young adults who have exited the foster care system, teens who are discriminated against in their access to public schools, and youth with a transclass trajectory. Among the key takeaways that emerged from this conversation are: building a strong base with clear structure and norms before reaching out to allies, making sure there is no buy-in without clarity on what it involves, facing reality and being willing to redesign structure when it is no longer serving our goals, and being explicit about roles.
Here’s what LCN has been up to
Community of Practice
There were a lot of exciting events and rich learning taking place at LCN! Here are some highlights:
On March 18th, we had our Skill Practice Session on Coaching! Members got on the bike to hone their coaching muscles, and support each other on their leadership and organizing challenges.
On our first LCN Meet & Reflect on March 31, leaders and organizers from around the world gathered to pause, reflect on their moments of pride and challenge from the past three months, and draw lessons to carry on forward.
In our session Innovation Hub: Building power through participatory theater on April 7th, we were joined by Laura Mentz Strakova from Rehearsal for Reality to learn about the Theater of the Oppressed, exploring how participatory theater techniques can be used to make strategizing empowering and exciting, and build power within communities.
On April 12th, LCN hosted its very first Climate Justice Meet & Connect together with LCN member Sheila Keller from Mothers Out Front. Climate justice organizers from 13 organizations across 4 countries joined to share best practices, challenges, and lessons around organizing for climate justice. If you are active in the climate justice space and interested in being part of future meetups, let us know by clicking here!
On April 21st, LCN, together with Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, hosted the Why Stories Matter for Leadership session. Dr. Emilia Aiello presented the main findings from the Narratives4Change research project on how Public Narrative is used to build power and leadership in campaigns and organizations. We were joined by We The people Michigan’s Executive Director Art Reyes, Michigan Immigrant Justice coordinator Nelly Fuentes, NHS Horizons Director Kathryn Perera, Maternity Voices Partnership Chair Mo Ade, and NHS Health Education England member Elaine King to share insights, lessons, and challenges of using Public Narrative in their work.
On May 5th, we had a session on How to enhance team learning with psychological safety with Randall Smith from PowerLabs. Over 200 people joined our session to explore how we can enhance psychological safety within teams to build stronger, more resilient teams and organizations!
LCN Hubs
LCN Hubs are member-led groups transferring organizing and leadership to their communities through engaging established and potential organizers. The Hubs are either geographically focused—such as the teams operating across Europe, Australia, and Afrika—or issue focused—such as the Health Justice Community—in their mission to pave the way for decentralization and democratization of our goals around the globe.
Over the last 3 months we have been inspired by the energy of our Hubs in bringing together diverse and committed groups for critical conversations, skills development, and community building.
The LCN Health Justice Community held the second Orientation to Organizing for Health Justice on April 27th, a 3-hour introductory session to our organizing and public narrative practices. 128 people from 4 countries joined the Orientation to learn about organizing with a special focus on health justice and equity. In the session, we drew on a campaign by Vot-ER as a case study to explore the six practices of community organizing.
If you are interested in launching a regional or thematic Hub, we would love to hear from you!