178 - Development and Evaluation of a Novel Leadership Training: One Community’s Experience in Cultivating a Network of Local Leaders for Social Impact

Abstract Information: When it comes to collaborative community development work, there are many challenges to overcome. Often the earliest and most critical challenges to overcome are the convening of partners and building trust and a shared vision. This presentation will explain one approach to developing a network of non-profit and government leaders within one community in order to expand the social capital available for collaborative work. In 2015, The Rider-Pool Foundation adopted a proactive approach to collective impact and community development through the development of a Pool Fellowship for Health. Now in its tenth cohort, the fellowship convenes a group of diverse not-for-profit leaders representing multiple community systems. Fellows from different sectors and representing different lived experiences are selected annually to be trained by national experts in systemic leadership, collaborative and cross-sector strategies, community engagement, and program design and evaluation. The 9-month training program enables fellows to develop the skills needed to address complex community issues, discovering how their fields of experience connect with and depend on other fields to create positive social change. At the conclusion of this program, fellows become part of an inclusive network of leaders that have the same learning experience and shared understanding of the importance of collective work to address complex social issues. All fellows are invited to develop and implement strategies in their own role and organization, as well as with other previous fellows, that will sustainably improve the quality of life in the neighborhoods surrounding downtown Allentown, PA. We have iteratively tried to capture the impact of the fellowship over time using a variety of systems evaluation and developmental evaluation tools. In 2017, at the three-year mark, and again in 2018 and 2021, the fellowship was evaluated using ripple effect mapping. Ripple effect mapping and appreciative inquiry were used to capture the ripples and shifts in collaboration that happened as a result of participation in the fellowship. The responses were analyzed using the Community Capitals Framework which includes seven kinds of capital: natural, cultural, human, social, political, financial (Chazdon, et al., 2017). It was found that the types of capital most enhanced by the fellowship were social (46%) and human (29%), which is in line with the fellowship’s theory of change. Then, at the five-year mark, we held a retreat with all of the fellows across the five cohorts, which included qualitative evaluation through interviews and focus groups. Finally, we conducted a social network analysis to measure the strength and frequency of the relationships among the members of the network. In 2022, the sponsoring organization, the Leonard Parker Pool Institute for Health (LPPIH) was formed. LPPIH encourages and facilitates cross-sector collaboration to enable meaningful, place-based improvements in the health of our community with a specific focus on one inner-city neighborhood. This new focus on the Franklin Park neighborhood has reinvigorated the fellowship network. Many fellows are in leadership positions in nonprofits in the Franklin Park area. The existing relationships between fellows have propelled efforts to increase equity and opportunity in this area.