Leadership Development
Challenges: LACEHH faces special challenges in developing grassroots leadership on the issues of homelessness, welfare reform and hunger:
First, as a countywide organization, our boundaries are not limited to 20 square blocks of a neighborhood or even to a city. This means that we reach out to potential leaders based on issues rather than geography.
Second, individuals do not generally identify as being homeless, or being on welfare, and often move in and out of these situations. Therefore they do not see themselves as potential leaders within those communities.
We meet these challenges by adopting a flexible leadership development approach that is nevertheless intentional, proactive and consistent.
Guiding methodology: Overall, leadership development for all staff and peer advocates is on an on-going basis from the time a person is connected with LACEHH. We firmly believe that the least effective model is hierarchical and bureaucratic while the model we employ – egalitarian and humanistic is the most effective. This social change model emphasizes the development of self-awareness, building trust, participatory and active listening, and a fundamental belief in collaboration and empowering others in combination with collective action and passionate commitment as cornerstones of effective grassroots leadership.
The grassroots leadership development methodology focuses on the following five components:
Outreach
One-on-one follow-up
Education on issues – Popular education
Training and on-going mentoring
Participatory decision making
1. Outreach. LACEH&H&H through its six main projects makes a concerted, focused effort to reach homeless, disenfranchised people. This includes homeless single adults, low income and homeless women, children, people with disabilities and legal immigrants that have been affected by homelessness, poverty and public policies around immigration and welfare reform. The staff of LACEH&H conducts more than 100 community outreach presentations a year to more than 5,000 - 7,000 people, more than 150 trainings in shelters and welfare offices in an attempt to not only outreach to the homeless and low-income community, but to do advocacy and to identify leaders in the homeless and low income community.
2. One-on-one follow-up. As staff identify people who are interested in organizing around an issue [for example- Section 8, welfare reform, civil rights] we follow-up with them on a one-on-one basis. This is especially important because usually these individuals have multiple barriers to participating on an on-going basis and it is important to identify these issues early and try to solve them quickly. These can range from being homeless, being cut off welfare, lack of childcare, felony records, outstanding warrants- and is usually a combination of these crises. When people reach out for assistance, they are encouraged to advocate for themselves, then being a spokesperson and organizer who can draw on their experiences, their particular strengths, insights, understanding and facilitate the development of the natural qualities that people possess.; Staff spends a lot of time problem-solving with people and investing in them. Often times it is a matter of showing that someone cares about you and is willing to take the time to invest in their self-esteem.
Peer advocates come directly from the communities where we conduct outreach and bring vitality, new ideas and connections to communities. Generally, they are individuals we encounter through training, meetings, actions, and other events that take place throughout the year. It takes time to build a relationship and gain trust with new individuals. Therefore, the staff of LACEHH is committed to spending that time to cultivate those relationships and seek out opportunities for individuals with the drive, passion and interest to work and organize in their communities. These individuals are encouraged to participate in many types of activities to give them a better understanding of the work we do and how we do it. Their participation is also a motivating force to others who are experiencing some of the same issues they have faced.
3. Education on issues: Popular Education. As people begin to have their issues resolved and have more time for being involved in organizing, the next level of activities is education on the issues. Often times these issues are fairly complex [for example, Section 8 or redevelopment] and we conduct trainings on these issues so that potential leaders understand the issues that are affecting them. In addition, we employ popular education materials that provides a deeper context for the issue [tax structure, military spending etc]
4. Training and on-going mentoring. In addition to education on the issues, as leaders emerge, we provide training on writing, public speaking, media, and organizing. These leaders are trained and encouraged to be the lead contact in their community, as well as provide leadership in their respective networks. Much of the training is in the form of one-on-one mentoring- i.e. staff developing an on-going relationships with individuals and provide on-going advice, assistance and attention as the person finds and develops their own style.
5. Participatory decision making. Each constituency, for example, homeless and low-income people, welfare recipients is intimately involved in the design and implementation of each phase of each component of the project. Planning and decision-making meetings are open for participation by all staff and peer advocates. [see examples below]:
Ongoing staff and peer advocates’ leadership development: The style of leadership at LACEHH is egalitarian and collaborative. Everyone works towards the primary goal of social change. Inclusiveness is key and being a part of the decision-making process helps people develop their leadership skills. The following are the various methods used to develop leadership among staff and peer advocates on an ongoing basis:
Training opportunities are provided as soon as possible. For example, staff members rotate in facilitating staff meetings. Staff and peer advocates participate in or facilitate membership meetings (meetings which include coalition members and the public - various topics are discussed), organize actions, attend conferences, conduct legislative visits and participate in meetings as a representative of LACEHH. In this past year, peer advocates attended legislative trainings, spoke at media conferences and participated in actions and legislative visits in Sacramento and Los Angeles. Because people come in at different degrees of expertise, staff members who are more knowledgeable and have more experience continue to provide support and guidance.
Senior staff serve as mentors of the newer staff, and as part of this effort, try to give staff as much room to develop their leadership skills as possible- this includes conducting meetings, being the lead contact in front of policymakers and the media, serving on advisory boards and boards of directors.
Peer advocates in the welfare reform, SSI, and all civil rights projects, and several members of the Hollywood Community Action Network [HCAN] include people in leadership development who are considered integral parts of our staff. Jesuit volunteers and social work interns, both teach and learn from people who have experienced poverty and crisis.
We organize repeated opportunities for grass-roots travel of delegations to visit legislators in district offices and Sacramento, and do very specific “how to lobby” and “empowerment” trainings for the delegations, many of whom are homeless and very low-income people.
LACEHH provides periodic in-house trainings on areas of interest. These often occur as part of extended staff meeting or during retreats, which take place twice a year. For example, at our retreat last December, one session focused on how to develop a convincing message on one of our issues. Staff made presentations, had discussions and participated in role-plays. LACEHH also conducts trainings as part of our membership meetings, and staff and peer advocates are encouraged to participate in as many of these as they can. For instance, in May we conducted training on legislative advocacy attended by our staff and peer advocates, as well as other homeless and low-income people and community members.
Key people who emerge are identified to be part of the organizing and strategy committees as well as potential Board members.