More than 50 Kent County community members are developing their capacity as community leaders in the NeighborWorks America leadership competency course, Building Leaders Building Community (BLBC), hosted by Dwelling Place in partnership with Habitat for Humanity of Kent County, at the 106 Gallery in the Heartside neighborhood.
“All walks of life are participating in this BLBC cohort, some with leadership experience in work, we have people who have never had leadership positions in the workplace, there are people who work with non-profit organizations, and people who are entrepreneurs and artists -all are looking to find ways to connect with other people with similar interests and be stronger leaders in their current endeavors,” said Ali Conley, Community Leadership Coordinator at Dwelling Place.
Created by NeighborWorks America, the 10-week training experience covers eight (8) workshop topics, plus two additional topics specific to the needs of our community: Understanding the Systems of Power in Our Communities and Building your Community Change Plan + Leadership Reflection. The core curriculum creates space for learning about yourself, your leadership style, and skills to support working within a team. The additional topics give participants a deeper understanding of the power dynamics of historic institutions and entities that exist in our community, and how to navigate them. The BLBC Experience cumulates in a celebration of the program where participants work on their Community Change Plan with support from other community leaders.
The BLBC experience is shaped and lead by a steering committee who work for 9 months to build the experience and design the facilitator training. The steering committee launched the 5-part facilitator training in January. From there, facilitator teams began to take the lead, designing each of the 10-week workshops.
“Launched in March, the facilitators use the curriculum as the framework but create a version that is hyper local and shaped by the skills, talents and passions of the team members who are leading. Each workshop includes a theme specific guest speaker and dinner,” said Jenn Schaub, Director of Community Building & Engagement Director at Dwelling Place.
The current BLBC cohort has 19 facilitators and 25-30 participants per workshop session.
“It is not a cookie cutter program; we’re not going to a group and saying this is what you should do. Instead, we modify it to the needs of the group we are with,” said Conley.
According to Neighborhood Works, the BLBC training offers the opportunity for community members to build a community of trust and encouragement, dive into issues that matter, take risks and try out new ideas, enhance skills, connections and clarity, and support one another in making community change.
For Habitat for Humanity of Kent County Engagement Coordinator, Jesenia Camacho, the BLBC workshop helps participants to “deal with bias we face every day of our lives. How people see things through their lens” and learn about “being mindful of people and respecting them for who and how they wish to be addressed and approached.”
"When community members come together to create a collective experience for one another we find magic and see the beginning growth of amazing connections. I love that the BLBC model has a basic framework of class content, but the facilitators really create the full experience by putting their own spin on it,” said Schaub.
“BLBC is an experience that you take with you, not only in your professional life, but in our own personal life,” said Camacho.
The BLBC 10-week program has been in development for 3 years, starting with a Roosevelt Park Neighborhood cohort in 2022. This year’s cohort has been made available to community members throughout Kent County in part thanks to overwhelming philanthropic support from the City of Grand Rapids, Wege Foundation, Corwell Health and NeighborWorks America.
“For the future, we are working to create a decentralized version where small community groups could lead their own BLBC with a board or committee that is already working together,” said Schaub.
With a mission to improve the lives of people by creating quality affordable housing, providing essential support services, and serving as a catalyst for neighborhood revitalization, Dwelling Place serves families and people in 4 counties across West Michigan. Dwelling Place is powered by volunteers and numerous staff persons, interns, Americorps workers, and guest writers. Thanks to JD Sullivan, Americorps/VISTA CB&E Communications Coordinator for his contribution of this article.
The Rapidian, a program of the 501(c)3 nonprofit Community Media Center, relies on the community’s support to help cover the cost of training reporters and publishing content.
We need your help.
If each of our readers and content creators who values this community platform help support its creation and maintenance, The Rapidian can continue to educate and facilitate a conversation around issues for years to come.
Please support The Rapidian and make a contribution today.
