Identify, Recruit, Train and Mobilize.

Since joining NewVue Communities in 2018, Francisco Ramos has helped develop leaders by implementing those four key principles. Those leaders then go out into the community and repeat those same principles to keep the cycle going.

But Francisco can’t do it alone. As NewVue’s director of community organizing, he relies on a network of support like the annual Community Leadership Institute organized by NeighborWorks America. Francisco attended the leadership development conference this fall with seven community members eager to gain the tools, knowledge and resources needed to make our neighborhoods places of opportunity and growth.

“The CLI conference supports our approach by helping organizers like me train and motivate community leaders and by inspiring them to stay involved and committed,” Francisco said. “The development and consolidation of local leaders is the primary goal. This is very important because our local communities become stagnant without leadership development, and leadership development and leadership engagement go hand in hand.”

Since 2018, NewVue has sent 29 resident leaders to CLI conferences. “We have very carefully chosen the partner organizations and city agencies that have been represented,” Francisco said. Past attendees have included representatives from the Fitchburg Public Schools, the Fitchburg Department of Community Development, Fitchburg State University, the Fitchburg Art Museum, the Wachusett Area Social Justice Alliance, the Fitchburg Cultural Council, the Fitchburg Cultural Alliance, and Empower Children for Success.

“These leaders have remained active in the community and have created a great impact,’’ We have seen many positive changes taking place within the Fitchburg school district, and we have been able to develop a network of local artists committed to social change.’’

He said several nonprofit organizations have been created thanks to new resident leaders, such as: Coff33 Corps, the Thurston Consort, Empower Children for Success, Meek and Humble Ministries, and others.

Every CLI group that attends the national conference receives a non-competitive grant of $4,000 to organize an event or a project that creates impact in their local community.
The group Francisco led last year is using its grant to organize a local leadership conference. The Creative Network Summit will bring community leaders together to understand the landscape of opportunities and challenges facing the creative sector and learn how various stakeholders are working together to build a more vibrant creative economy. The Creative Network Summit will take place in Fitchburg in late February.

The group that just attended the institute in Baltimore will now work on an event for the following year using the tools and knowledge gained. The local community members who attended were: Studie Tahmassebipour of Holden, president, Wachusett Area Social Justice Alliance; Maribel Cruz of Fitchburg, director, Community Development and Housing, City of Fitchburg; Danette Day of Fitchburg, professor, School of Education, Fitchburg State University; Joseph Bowen Jr. of Fitchburg, president, Fitchburg Cultural Council; Nasharie Peralta, of Winchendon, community organizer, NewVue Communities; Aimee Cotnoir of Fitchburg, manager of Membership and Events, Fitchburg Art Museum; and Harold Smith Jr. of Fitchburg, member Stratton Players.

Soudie said she was inspired by the conference and is eager for the group to get together soon and come up with some concrete ideas for turning what they learned into action. One area she’d like to focus on is finding new ways for people to get engaged. “People can be intimidated by systems, so it’s vital to make programs accessible by demystifying power structures,’’ she said. “Make sure you are constantly breaking down the barriers that make people avoid getting involved.’’

In all there were 750 participants from around the country, including about eight groups from Massachusetts. The goal is to expose local leaders to what other leaders have successfully done in other parts of the country and how they have done it, Francisco said. The conference provides skill trainings and also organizes tours to the different neighborhoods of the cities where the conference is organized.

The CLI annual conference allows local leaders to think outside the box and motivates them to be creative,” Francisco said. “Since there is a CLI conference every year, the sky is the limit!”