Signature Programs

The Institute coordinates local Communities of Practice (CoPs) for community and economic development practitioners, technicians, and advocates bound by shared expertise, experience, and passion. This learning environment is dedicated to the cultivation and exchange of knowledge in ways that increase or improve their personal, organizational, and collective capabilities and capacity to drive impact. 

The participants in these communities of practice were learning together by focusing on problems that were directly related to their work. In the short term, this made their work easier or more effective; in the long term, it helped build both their communities and their shared practices—thus developing capabilities critical to the continuing success of the organizations. (Wegner & Synder, 2000) 

The Academy is a cooperative learning environment using a popular education model to facilitate and activate participation that empowers learners and organizers. The program is focused on an intersectional and interdisciplinary approach to creating and scaling  solutions. Our key objectives are to: 1) develop critical consciousness, and 2) motivate people to organize and collaborate in new ways that drive systems change for social justice. 

In our view the best way to help to strengthen the movement for social change is to help create leaders who are critical thinkers. But it is important to note that we work to develop leadership from within the communities we work with. Why is critical consciousness so important? We believe that for people to begin to work to change the relationship between the oppressed and the oppressors, they need to be able to analyze the world around them in order to see beyond hegemonic forces. For this reason, we spend a lot of time helping people learn analytical tools that they can apply in a variety of situations. But because we are working within the context of social change, analysis is connected to action. (Zerkel, ed. American Friends Service Committee, 2001)