Every two years, 50 new nonprofit leaders enter the NeighborWorks Achieving Excellence Program. A collaboration between NeighborWorks America and Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, the program brings together senior leaders of community-serving organizations to address challenges – and find solutions. The program includes thought-provoking content, executive coaching and structured peer group work.
Applications are being accepted for the next cohort through 11:59 p.m. on Dec. 4. Admitted participants will begin the program in March.
“The program is distinguished by its ability to foster short-term changes with long-term impact, making it especially powerful for leaders looking to drive transformative change in their organizations and communities,” explains Christina Deady, senior director, Leadership & Workforce Development Programs.
The first class launched in 2002 and through the years has guided 500 organizations in the nonprofit sector. The ultimate goal isn’t just helping individual leaders to be more effective, but to help their organizations have a greater community impact.
The effects can be seen in communities not just during the program, but for years and years afterward. “Participants consistently report transformative changes, such as improved organizational performance, morale and substantial new capital leverage,” Deady says. “The effects are then multiplied as more people in the organization use the AE lessons and tools.” That includes board members and partners, she says. And as AE graduate organizations work together, the ripple effect continues.
Over the years, performance challenges have ranged from launching a “for profit” subsidiary to finding new ways to raise and deploy capital to creating a new digital framework to better serve the community.
Dan Ellis, executive director of NHS of Baltimore, went through the program in 2016. “Achieving Excellence is a program that helps you as a leader develop skills that are useful in your day-to-day work,” he says. “It’s not just theoretical; it’s practical and applicable.”
He joined the program on the heels of the Baltimore uprising after the death of Freddie Gray in police custody. His project, Ellis explains, was “the work we needed to do in West Baltimore.” His focus was to lay the groundwork for changes that his organization spurred, alongside residents, in that part of the city, including the development of a food hall, the creation of more affordable housing and the reclaiming and refurbishing of vacant homes. This was a major part of transforming that area that had lacked development for decades.
Kevin Alexander, president & CEO of Rockaway Development & Revitalization Corporation, was a member of the ninth class of the program, which ran from 2018-2020. “Achieving Excellence was the most challenging and rewarding professional development program I have ever experienced by far,” he says. “You will not only benefit professionally but also become a part of a national network that you can connect with beyond the completion of the Program!”
The NeighborWorks website contains more information about the program, along with an application. Applications close Dec. 4 at 11:59 p.m.
