NLC Alumni,

NLI strives to build community from the ground up, and we are thrilled to offer opportunities over the next year for you to let your voices be heard. To this end, I am pleased to invite you to the Institute’s Alumni Policy & Advocacy Night on Tuesday, February 21, 2017 at 6:00 PM. Light refreshments will be provided beginning at 5:30PM.

Our special guests for the evening will be Greg Brown, Executive Director of Policy Bridge, and Amy Hanauer, Founding Executive Director of Policy Matters Ohio, discussing the importance of community engagement, and emerging policy and advocacy issues concerning topics that are important to you.

Neighborhood Leadership Institute (NLI) conducted a survey  last year asking graduates to identify the issues they are most passionate about. As a result you identified  Education (Parental Engagement, Education, Education Quality, etc.) , Family Financial Sustainability (Jobs, Financial Literacy, etc), Health Equity, Housing and  Safety (Neighborhood Safety, Community Policing, etc); as areas of focus for alumni workgroups and community forums. Policy and Advocacy Night, will act as the kick- off event for 2017 to connect your passion and voice with activities that will get key information on some of these areas of focus to you. Come prepared to  discuss the importance and power of community voice, but also take a look at current issues focused on Education, Family Financial Sustainability, and Health Equity that present opportunities for advocacy.

The information provided and discussed will act as a platform for strategic action and a first step to establishing workgroups around the aforementioned topics.  Housing and Safety will be highlighted in an upcoming April Alumni Forum. I encourage you to join the Institute as we assist you in using your voice for public policies and community practices that create impactful change in these areas. Your voice and involvement in the democratic process is vital to shaping the quality of life in our communities.

Finally, I’m happy to share that our flagship training program, Neighborhood Leadership Cleveland (NLC), recently launched its 33rd class and has begun meeting weekly at CSU. Upon graduating in May, Class 33 will join a powerful network of more than 1,400 leadership program graduates across Greater Cleveland.  

Again, I hope to see you on Tuesday, February  21st at 5:30PM as we further leverage our grassroots leadership skills and engage our communities.

#WelcomeHomeLeaders.

Together,