"It's Hands-On...": Cultivating Mentors and Emerging Social Justice Leaders through Shared Project Development: Documenting the Intergenerational and Community Dialogues: A Leadership for a Changing World Initiative

The Leadership for a Changing World (LCW) program seeks to transform the public perception that the U.S. is facing a shortage of leaders to address social, environmental, and economic issues within communities. The program asserts that leadership does exist, albeit in a form that is different from traditional understandings of leadership. LCW shifts the conversation about leadership to include leaders known in their own communities, but not known broadly. Over five years (2001-2005), the LCW program recognized 92 individual leaders and leadership teams based in organizations across the U.S. and Puerto Rico. As the program began to come to a close in 2005, the partners developed the idea of a regional forum, the Intergenerational and Community Dialogues, to address recurring concerns that award recipients identified: leadership development, succession, and the creation of sustainable community collaborations. The forum brought together LCW award recipients and emerging leaders from the Pacific Northwest to investigate and explore the challenges and opportunities of intergenerational leadership and community collaboration. This report documents the main ideas that emerged from the conversations of forum participants who explored their experiences cultivating mentors, leaders, and collaborative relationships. It is our hope that this document captures the perspectives, concerns, significant accomplishments, and energetic spirit of the initiative's participants.