SHAREThey work for 24 organizations in 16 cities throughout California. They include organizers, advocates, faith leaders, and more. They work with communities who speak over 14 different languages and represent people who came from all over the world with shared hopes to make their California dream a reality. They are the inaugural cohort of the Fellowship for a New California: Developing Leaders of Immigrant Communities.
The fellowship, a new program of the Rockwood Leadership Institute, provides leadership development to foster collaboration and cultivate the leaders who are ensuring that California’s policies and practices are keeping pace with the changing demographics of our state. “For generations, California has attracted people seeking the opportunities that only the golden state can offer,” says Akaya Windwood, President of the Rockwood Leadership Institute. “This program supports the leaders who are making sure that California is welcoming, inclusive and fair to newcomers, who make incalculable contributions to our economy and culture when they come here to make a better life for their families.”
Through the Fellowship for a New California, people who work in support of immigrant communities throughout the state access a wide range of leadership development supports to help them advance in their careers and become stronger leaders. The program includes three retreats, including a five day retreat on collaborative leadership; skills training and peer learning; plus individual leadership development plans, coaching, and opportunities to build networks of support.
“In no place is the American Dream more vivid than in California,” explains Maria Rodriguez, Statewide Youth Organizer from the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights in Los Angeles (CHIRLA). “My family came here to make a better life, but also to build a better community. I am committing to this fellowship because I want to continue paving the way to a future California where there are more opportunities and justice for immigrants, who contribute to this state in fundamental ways every day."
The nationally recognized Rockwood Leadership Institute specializes in delivering the best practices and methodologies in leadership development to the nonprofit and public benefit community. Since 2000, Rockwood has trained over 3,000 leaders from thousands of organizations in the United States, Canada and Israel.
The fellowship program is supported by the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund. Strengthening nonprofit leadership is a key grantmaking priority for the Haas, Jr. Fund. Supporting the vision and skills of talented and committed leaders is critical to creating social change, beginning with groups like the Fellowship for a New California. “We need to nurture, grow and celebrate leaders who reflect the diverse population of our state," explains Linda Wood of the Haas, Jr. Fund, "especially those who can lift the voices of those who are not often heard.”
