Poder Leadership Institute

PODER is a leadership building experience for Lawrence residents who are part of the CommunityWorks Network. It was developed by CommunityWorks members and staff, with assistance from the Interaction Institute for Social Change, and began in January 2004.

The Institute provides an intensive semester of training for emerging leaders who want to become more effective in the effort to revitalize the City. Throughout the course, members develop their skills as facilitative, participatory and transformational leaders by:

· Deepening their analysis of economics and power

· Studying community organizing and social change movements

· Understanding the social, political and economic history, myth and reality of Lawrence

· Reflecting on their own leadership experiences, strengths and challenges

· Challenging themselves to take on greater leadership challenges

· Applying tools, strategies and tactics for making collective change

· Building the network of skilled leaders in Lawrence

As a result of PODER, leaders have a greater ability to guide and participate in efforts that advance a positive vision for our City. Graduates have gone on to become lead facilitators of NeighborCircles, take on leadership roles in Lawrence CommunityWorks committees, join other community organizations, join for the Lawrence Human Rights Commission, and run for City Council.

PODER Guiding Principles

The following represent the principles and values that guide the PODER Leadership Institute:

· We acknowledge the history of our Lawrence predecessors, the first waves of immigrants, men, women and children who organized to fight corporate greed and injustice to build the kind of future that brought them to Lawrence in the first place.

· Like our predecessors in Lawrence, we organize to build a better future for ourselves, our families and children and future generations in the city of Lawrence. We gather to learn from each other to build POWER to fight poverty, racism, abandonment and decay, indifference and hopelessness.

· We bring to the PODER table our own life experiences, our knowledge and skills, to share with each other and learn from one another. These are all valuable assets to our community. We are here to be students and teachers, to be participants and leaders, to be mentors and mentees.

· We embrace and celebrate our diversity and recognize the wealth of experience, culture and knowledge that it brings. We strive to work across and tear down perceived and imposed barriers, like ethnicity, gender and age, that historically has kept us divided and unable to build the POWER needed to get things done.

· We create and protect an atmosphere of utmost respect towards ourselves, each other and our community, that reflects and promotes the kind of leadership we envision.

· We guide our dialogues and interactions with honesty and truth, recognizing our individual and collective strengths and challenges with a positive and creative outlook to work together to improve ourselves, develop our skills and find solutions. We base our decisions on facts and information and despise gossip, myths and innuendos.

· We are action driven, and measure our success and accomplishment by the things we are able to create and build together, and by the progress we make towards achieving our projects and goals.

· We commit to continue learning and teaching others what we learn together by practicing and applying the lessons learned, and to continue to work together and with many others to build a Lawrence full of hope and opportunity.

PODER Members are:

· Facilitating NeighborCircles

· Leading the Budget Campaign

· Member Guides

· Reviviendo Fellows

· Members of the FAB Committee

· Helping build East Island Square

· Registering voters

· Helped build Our House

· Wrote, directed and acted in the first LCW play – Despierta!

· Organize Walk – A-Thons and Sport Events

· Ran for City Council

· Helping families affected by the recent Lawrence fires

PODER Members are part of:

· Bread and Roses Festival

· Casa Dominicana

· Merrimack Valley Project

· Voters in Action

· Adult Learning Center

· Lawrence Democratic Committee

· Tesoro

· Human Rights Commission