Stories from the Emerging Leaders of Color Fellowship
The Emerging Leaders of Color Fellowship offered through the Youth Worker Well-Being Project aims to tackle the need for leadership diversity in Indiana’s youth-serving sector by investing in youth workers of color’s skillsets and foster more inclusive youth organizations statewide. Participants engage in an intensive six-month training and development series designed to enhance their leadership capabilities and provide opportunities to cultivate robust community networks.
Since the first cohort began in July, this exceptional group of 36 people has been busy developing strong connections with one another and pouring into their understanding and knowledge around leadership best practices. Meet the Emerging Leaders of Color Fellowship Cohort 1 by clicking the image below.
The first session in July covered the theme Building Community & Exploring Equity-Driven Leadership. The cohort spent their two days together building relationships with each other; exploring topics around equity-driven leadership; deepening their understanding of power, privilege, oppression, diversity, equity, and inclusion; and exploring their individual experiences around authentic leadership.
Coming back together again in August, the cohort began to dig deeper into Leadership of Self and Others. The group completed the Clifton StrengthsFinder in advance to identify some of their personal leadership qualities. They also explored the distinctions between management and leadership; how stereotypes threaten leadership and identifying strategies to combat those threats; and mindfulness practices to support equity-driven leadership. The group also took time to have some fun together with an evening of line dancing.
“The content has been so helpful in supporting my professional growth,” one fellow shared following the August session. “I am learning innovative ways to impact my organization.”
The September session expanded further into the topic of Leadership of Teams and Organizations, and the cohort dug into understanding how to apply trauma-informed care to leadership strategies; cultivating a culture of resiliency in organizations; and learning how to navigate crucial conversations.
“As we are navigating this new but empowering space, we are still human and have human reactions to things and people,” said another fellow. “I am appreciative of the opportunity to be able to lean into some best practices when faced with human-feeling/emotional things as well as the space to talk it out and walk through it.”