One of the questions I ask myself with some frequency is how those of us working in foundations can continue to assist with building the strength of the workforce system through the people working in it. I know many foundations provide capacity-building grants, which can be used to support the professional development of individual team members; however, typical professional development doesn’t work as well to address important input to leadership such as actually enabling the building social capital, or helping individuals expanded their understanding and expertise in their field.
In 2023 and 2024, Cleveland has an opportunity for this type of truly catalytic professional development: the Aspen Institute has selected Cleveland to participate in its Workforce Leadership Academy. The Leadership Academy is a 10 month, peer learning cohort of workforce leaders which enables them to expand and deepen professional networks and partnerships, strengthen organizational and systems leadership skills, apply a race and equity lens to assess and improve workforce services, apply a systems change framework to their work, and deepen understanding of effective strategies and programs.
Facilitated by the Ohio Workforce Coalition, participants in the cohort (~20 or so) will attend an opening retreat at the beginning of their learning year, in late spring 2023. They will spend the next 10 months attending program days (for learnings and exposures) and lab days (in which the cohort work together to apply what they are learning to a need in the greater Cleveland workforce system). At their closing retreat, in winter 2024, they’ll finalize their recommendations, to be presented to the broader workforce stakeholder community later in winter 2024 or spring 2025. In addition, participants are connected to the other Aspen Institute cohorts from across the U.S. to continue to strengthen their social capital nationally, not just locally. All this work will be guided by a local advisory council, one role of which is to help the final recommendations to gain traction.
What am I most excited about this with this academy?
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- The opportunity for emerging leaders in the workforce space – those who aren’t currently the top role at their organizations, but with the potential to have that role – to build the technical and social capital together with peers
- The opportunity to build a truly diverse group of workforce leaders in Cleveland, including many BIPOC leaders, as a cohort representing a pipeline of workforce leaders
- The opportunity for individuals in workforce to widen their lenses and learn more from national experts about both system change and about effective strategies and programs
- The opportunity for the Aspen Institute’s network of leaders to include talented and committed Clevelanders, who will represent our innovation and effective systems and programs to others
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Watch the Deaconess Foundation twitter feed (@DeaconessFDN) and our emails for more information about applying for this cohort in the coming months!