COLUMBUS, Ind., Nov. 07, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CivicLab announced today the second cohort for the Systemness Leadership Academy to advance systemness-centered strategies that empower experienced collaborative and systems leaders to approach and address complex social problems.
Systemness is defined by CivicLab as a quality where people think of themselves to be part of a larger system and work for the benefit of the system. The leadership academy is a twelve-month experience for co-creating better social systems designed to serve whole people. Leaders in the academy represent communities that want to use a coherent and wholistic approach to addressing complex social problems.
Nine participants from three states have been selected from an applicant pool for their ability to affect systems change in the areas of educational attainment, talent retention, population growth, economic development, and quality of life.
Participants include:
- Monica Brockmeyer, Change By Degrees, LLC, Rochester Hills, Mich.
- Veronica Franzese, Community Education Coalition, Columbus, Ind.
- Jeneen Hatoum, Michigan College Access Network (MCAN), Lansing, Mich.
- Laura Herrell, Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce, Nashville, Tenn.
- Stephanie Weiss, Detroit Regional Chamber, Detroit, Mich.
- Mia Lanier-Durkins, Washtenaw Community College, Ann Arbor, Mich.
- Scott McCorkle, MetaImpact, Indianapolis, Ind.
- Brian Pearson, Otsego Community Foundation (OCAN), Gaylord, Mich.
- Meghan Schmidbauer, Detroit Drives Degrees (Detroit Regional Chamber), Detroit, Mich.
Each participant has chosen a unique focus area relevant to their own community, region, or state to apply the principles, practices, and frameworks provided by CivicLab.
“The course teaches systems-building principles, shares concrete examples of the ideas in action, and provides a space to practice the skills,” said Amber Fischvogt, director at CivicLab. “The experience is ideal for leaders who want to create an authentic unity among a diverse group of stakeholders. This cohort represents some of our closest partners doing the hardest work, and yet, still wanting to learn more about the process.”
The Systemness Leadership Academy’s goal is to create a cohort of national leaders dedicated to transforming social systems to better serve all people. Each of the latest participants will learn how to make “invisible social systems” visible to all in the community, transform systems by focusing on relationships, and go beyond the concept of “solving” and co-create acts of “dissolution” to permanently affect complex social challenges.
"My work is in student success - that is, helping colleges and universities transform themselves in better service to students,” said Monica Brockmeyer, senior research fellow for the Center for Urban Studies at Wayne State University, selected for the second cohort. “I'm most excited about the way that changing the way people work together can be a powerful tool to dissolve challenges."
This is the second cohort of CivicLab's Systemness Leadership Academy. The first cohort, representing fourteen leaders from seven states, began in July 2023. The Systemness Leadership Academy is generously supported by Lumina Foundation. For more information logon to: https://systemness.org/
About CivicLab
CivicLab, is a nonprofit institute dedicated to advancing the practice of civic collaboration and leading complex social systems. As both an overarching set of principles and a hands-on practice for improving a community, CivicLab's Stakeholder Engagement Process provides people with a common language and common approach for dissolving complex social problems. Since its inception, CivicLab has partnered with over 300 communities and organizations across the U.S. and trained more than 14,000 leaders of foundations, educational institutions, government, corporations, and community development organizations.
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Lucia Weathers
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E: Lucia@WeathersStrategyGroup.com
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/e649a5aa-7cb2-4e3d-be49-f30c34d92a29
