Westside Leadership Institute Grows Into Yearlong Leadership Development Clinic

As the Westside Leadership Institute (WLI) celebrates 15 years of success building leadership skills among residents on Salt Lake City’s westside, the institute seeks to increase its wrap-around services by expanding into a yearlong leadership development clinic. The new design will better guide and support leaders and their fledgling projects as they launch, grow, and thrive.
 
The original 12-week course, a collaboration between NeighborWorks Salt Lake and University Neighborhood Partners since 2004, cultivates leadership abilities so graduates have the knowledge, skills, and resources to work on community projects or issues affecting Salt Lake City’s Westside. The course is geared toward individuals and groups who have community-based projects that they want to materialize with expert advice and guidance while earning 3 University of Utah CE credit hours. Graduates become eligible for $1,000 grants.
 
Notable projects developed during the Westside Leadership Institute include:

• West View Media
• Tapu Podcast
• Pacific Island Knowledge 2 Action Resources
• Westside Coalition

 
As of January 2019, two concurrent classes of the Westside Leadership Institute’s flagship 12-week leadership course  will be offered in English and in Spanish during the spring semester, followed by a series of summer workshops, and a brand new “Westside Leadership Institute 2.0” course during the fall semester.
 
The summer workshops will provide continuing education for students on how to organize, manage, and sustain their projects, while the WLI 2.0 course offering will aid WLI graduate groups in strategic planning, organization, resource development, scale, and measuring impact. 
 
This new structure combined with additional education and support increases the sustainability of projects borne from the course. Students will become a cohort of community leaders on the same trajectory and in sync with the annual cycle of outreach and grant seeking, guided and supported by experts.
 
Registration is currently open for the spring semester in both English and Spanish. English-speaking classes are on Tuesday evenings from 6:00PM-9:00PM, beginning on January 22, 2019 at NeighborWorks Salt Lake's Community Center and Spanish-speaking classes are on Friday mornings from 9:00AM-12:00PM beginning on January 25, 2019 at Glendale Community Learning Center. The course cost is $50, due on the first day of class. Interested individuals and groups can register online at www.nwsaltlake.org/wli.