First Resident Leadership Workshop a Great Success!

Art and Science of Leadership

2017 Resident Leadership Program

               

Last Tuesday, March 28, the Community Building & Organizing department at NHS hosted the first unit of the 7th Annual Resident Leadership Program. The Resident Leadership Program consists of five units that explore topics related to neighborhood, community and leadership development. 

Leslie Radcliffe, NHS’ board member, facilitated the first unit: “The Art and Science of Leadership”. This unit explored leadership as an art and science, and how the two subjects are interconnected. Radcliffe utilized Leonardo Da Vinci as a perfect demonstration of this philosophy. Da Vinci was an Italian polymath, whose work consisted of the interaction of science and art. 

Next, the group participated in a team building activity which centered on a ball of yarn. The purpose of this activity was to illustrate the interconnectedness of individuals based on the construction of knowledge emerging from their collective experience.

Overall, there was a great turnout for the first unit of the Resident Leadership Program. The program participants all come from diverse backgrounds and different neighborhoods. They each have experience with community initiatives and involvement and are interested in developing and/or refining their leadership skills.

We're so proud of this year's program participants and look forward to the next four workshops! 

2015 RLP #5: Resources

Community Resources:

2015 Resident Leadership Program

by Chandel Gibbs, Resident Engagement AmeriCorps VISTA Member 

This past Thursday, NHS hosted the final installment of our 2015 Resident Leadership Program. Our very own Jim Paley, NHS’ Executive Director, facilitated the last workshop: “Effectively Using Community Resources.” Jim started the workshop by showing the class a series of historic videos and images: Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech; the 16^th Street Baptist Church bombing; Watts riots; Ferguson riots; and Baltimore riots.  Participants then wrote down the first thought that came to mind when viewing these images. This activity stimulated an in-depth discussion of community cohesion and chaos.

Jim’s objective was to figure out ways to bring about constructive change within communities. Participants learned about the Elements of Resident Leadership, including building teams to accomplish goals; the importance of forming alliances with police to enhance community policing; and identifying needs and finding resources to catalyze community change.

At the end of the class, we held our graduation ceremony for the RLP participants – complete with cake!

We asked participants to write down their ideas for community projects to undertake now that they had completed the RLP. Here are a few of their goals:

• “Project at overseas vision: help ensure women, youth, and children cultivate sustainable development in Indonesia.”
• “Develop and beautify resident veggie garden at 73-75 Kensington Street. This garden connects with new NHS property at Edgewood Ave.”
• “Bring lights into Huntington/Sheppard green space and camera at the corner.”
• “As a city, I think it’s important to optimize our bus system and make more direct routes between neighborhoods that don’t stop Downtown always. Also: more lines that run past 7pm.”
• “I would like to get more resources to people/families who have ‘family’ gardens.”

Thank you to everyone who participated in this year’s Resident Leadership Program! We look forward to future collaborations!

2015 RLP #4: Planning

Planning from A to Z:

2015 Resident Leadership Program

by Beonca Duncan, Community Engagement AmeriCorps VISTA Member

On May 5^th, NHS hosted its fourth class in the 2015 Resident Leadership Program. We were over the moon to welcome back NHS homeowner and Board Member Leslie Radcliffe as a facilitator of our class! A New Haven native, Leslie has been active in community efforts since 2009, ranging from getting involved in community gardens to serving on New Haven’s Civilian Review Board. Leslie led the class called “Getting from A to Z: Using Planning to Create Action.”

To ease the class into the curricula, Leslie led the class in an icebreaker game inspired by her workshop’s title. Participants had to work in teams to get from Aden to Zanzibar – and they had to make a plan without using any form of verbal communication. Leslie’s challenging icebreaker segued into her workshop, which emphasized the importance of developing plans and contingency plans to maximize efficiency and overcome obstacles.

In the last part of the workshop, participants split into groups and started to plan out their own neighborhood campaigns with the guidance of Leslie’s lesson plan. Each group was able to present a thorough and well-executed plan for their initiative.

Thanks to Leslie, all who attended this night’s Resident Leadership class left with a more clear and concise view of the importance of planning!

2015 RLP #3: Staying Strong through Recruitment and Retention

Staying Strong:

2015 Resident Leadership Program

by Chandel Gibbs, Resident Engagement AmeriCorps VISTA Member &

Daniella Beltran, Community Building Specialist

On Tuesday, April 21, the Community Building & Organizing team hosted the third workshop of our 2015 Resident Leadership Program. The theme of the workshop was “Staying Strong through Recruitment and Retention.” This workshop was facilitated by Stacy Spell, president of the West River Neighborhood Services Corporation and retired New Haven police detective. Mr. Spell has done a lot work for his community over the years by bringing services to it, creating strategies that deal with food security, and striving for increased public safety.

Mr. Spell shared his expertise in the areas of recruitment and development, as well as the challenges that many organizations and groups encounter in building and maintaining a team. His overall message was very straightforward: “keep it simple, keep it real.” He delivered a powerful message about speaking from your heart and modeling behavior that you want to see in other community members. Mr. Spell emphasized that more supporters will be captivated by a cause if you model the behavior you want others to use. Through a variety of group activities, every participant was able to interact and learn how to be concise and effective in speaking about their causes. Being passionate was another important aspect of Spell’s lesson. We learned how to be captivating when speaking about the changes we want to see in our communities, and we learned to develop our thought processes to clearly convey what we want done and how to do it.

By the end of the class, Mr. Spell opened up the class for Q&A that quickly turned into an open discussion of challenges and opportunities faced by the class participants. A few of the participants had worked with Mr. Spell in different community events, and they shared their experiences with us. One contributor, Teresa Hines, who is co-chair of Newhallville’s Community Resilience Team and an active participant in all of our RLP classes, surprised us all when she shared that she was once a quiet individual who didn’t know how to voice her concerns before meeting Mr. Spell, who helped her to “get off of the wall and join the party.” Now she is one of Newhallville’s respected community leaders and far from that quiet resident who once stayed on the perimeter of community initiatives. It was incredible for participants to learn that Teresa had applied Mr. Spell’s lessons to her projects so successfully. It also made everyone more excited to go out and apply their new skills in their communities!

 

2015 RLP #2: Effective Communication

Let's Talk! Effective Communication:

2015 Resident Leadership Program

by Kelsey Sullivan, Resident Engagement AmeriCorps VISTA Member

On Tuesday, April 7, the Community Building & Organizing team was excited to host the second installment of our 2015 Resident Leadership Program. The theme of the workshop was: “Let’s Talk! Tips for Effective Communication” and was facilitated by Velma George, a longtime community member and esteemed Neighborhood Specialist with the City of New Haven's Livable City Initiative.

Velma shared her extensive knowledge and expertise on the qualities of effective communication and the obstacles that break communication down in our organizations, home life, and professional relationships. Through a variety of interactive activities, Ms. George led the class through concrete communication practice with an emphasis on developing a strong understanding of verbal and nonverbal communication as well as reviewing strong listening skills.

The curriculum clearly resonated with the program participants. In the opening ice-breaker, everyone had only two minutes to draft a campaign slogan that they would use if they were running to be the mayor of New Haven, and they were challenged to limit their slogan to only six words. Later, in a unique drawing activity, participants had to sketch a bug creature as Velma described it out loud, but no one was allowed to ask any questions regarding what the bug was supposed to look like. Each interactive activity highlighted the importance of communication skills and different strategies for effective communication. Class participants responded with a candid discussion about how to implement these skills in our own homes and neighborhoods.

Tuesday night’s event was the second of five workshops that Neighborhood Housing Services is offering as its 2015 Resident Leadership Program. The next workshop will be the evening of Tuesday, April 21^st and will focus on “Staying Strong through Recruitment and Retention.” It promises to be an inspiring event, and we look forward to seeing our class return on the 21^st!

2015 RLP #1: Building Leaders

Building Leaders, Building Communities:

2015 Resident Leadership Program

 by Beonca Duncan, Community Engagement AmeriCorps VISTA Member

Earlier this week, we kicked off our 5^th annual Resident Leadership Program!

The five-workshop series began on Tuesday evening with the class “Building Winning Teams,” which was facilitated by our own Director of Community Building and Organizing, Stephen Cremin-Endes. 

For our first class we were joined by participants from various New Haven neighborhoods such as Newhallville, the Hill, Beaver Hills, and West River. The diverse group was able to enjoy delicious food and partake in light conversation and networking opportunities before tackling the first workshop of the series.

Our first classed was filled with enthusiasm and open dialogue about what skills were needed to create a “winning team.” Participants in the class worked in groups sharing experiences on past teams they were in and what skills are needed build an effective team. By the end of the class, a few participants were able to show off what they learned by participating in a hilarious skit! The skit allowed the participants to role play team dynamics and the problems and opportunities that can arise in a team setting.

 

 

We look forward to getting together with this group again for next week’s class “Let’s Talk! Tips for Effective Communication” and look forward to another enthusiastic class!