Creating spaces for dialogue and learning to build collective empowerment: A qualitative study on community leadership development in Midwest America communities

The complexity of today’s community challenges calls for innovative approaches that promote leadership of diverse community members and institutions working collaboratively with communities. This study reports on an evaluation of two neighborhood leadership development programs that examined the impact of programs on participants and their communities. 41 interviews were conducted with 33 program participants and eight facilitators. All interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using thematic analysis. Participants expressed that they were motivated to participate in the leadership program(s) because they saw the need to help others in their communities and wanted to learn how to do that well. Others reported scaling up their capacity and capabilities in doing community work through engaging and empowering others toward achieving shared community development goals. Insights from the study suggest that building communities that are well resourced, equitable, and thriving places, require sustainable investment in hands-on, relational leadership training at the local level.