Empowering change agents to co-create transformative futures, today.

If you’re ready to step up and make a difference for the climate and community, you belong here. Our world needs YOU.

We live in a world of increasing complexity, rapid change and disconnection. We feel the impacts of structural racism, climate change and other systemic crises, with Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) bearing the brunt of this impact.  It can be hard to not feel powerless when we honestly look at the depth of these issues. However, there is enormous power to drive change through daily acts taken in collaboration with others.

The Leadership Institute for Just and Resilient Communities Fellowship Training has supported engaged and emerging leaders to advance transformative social and environmental solutions through exposure to inspiring speakers and peers, leadership skills development, and application of skills through an equity-centered design project.

Participants leave this training with an increased capacity to:

  • Navigate stress and conflict
  • Facilitate transformative relationship building and collaboration
  • Civically engage using Trauma-Informed practices 
  • Center Equity in collaborative solution design
  • Apply transformative skills to your group, program or organization

Whether you are a grassroots activist or a government official, a passionate student or an elected leader, a business owner or a nonprofit leader, this a place for you to join others in addressing issues at the confluence of social and environmental justice.  

PROGRAM UPDATES

The Leadership Institute Fellows Program will unfortunately be paused in June 2023 as our executive team looks at pathways forward for 2024. We know that over the past 23 years, this program has impacted over 600 hearts and minds, sparked powerful new collaborations, and led to Fellows holding positions of impact all across the region.

The history and legacy of this program is something to be treasured, and the wisdom held within the Fellows network is something we greatly value. For updates about Daily Acts’ leadership programming when available, please sign up for our newsletter here.

CONTACT

What Participants Gain

PERSONAL LEADERSHIP 

Clarify and operate from your purpose.

  • Stay centered in your purpose
  • Lead through change and uncertainty
  • Strengthen emotional intelligence and understand triggers
  • Avoid burnout

CIVIC ENGAGEMENT

Use your power to take civic action.

  • Develop critical analysis and systems thinking skills
  • Increase self awareness of habits that perpetuate inequality
  • Expand your ability to design equitable programs and processes
  • Learn how and where you can engage civically on local issues

COLLECTIVE POWER

Gather skills to build community, relationships, and collaborate across differences.

  • Effectively communicate and build trust
  • Facilitate co-creative spaces and collective decision making
  • Build cross-cultural relationships
  • Navigate conflict

MEET OUR NETWORK

Learn more about our network of 600+ Leadership Fellows. Click here to Meet our Network!

What Your Community is Saying…

“Participating in the Leadership Institute for Just and Resilient Communities program helped give me the confidence to join the Petaluma General Plan Advisory Committee and feel like I belong and can contribute in these spaces. This program provided me the tools I needed to use my voice and help leave a better Petaluma for our next generation.”
Sierra Downey, ‘20

The Institute helped me to think about public policy in different ways—to connect issues together in a more holistic approach and to learn more progressive and satisfying ways to solve policy challenges such as affordable housing, transportation and community development.

Susan Gorin, 1st District County Supervisor

The Leadership Institute helped me understand some of our biggest challenges for the economy and ecology with a historical perspective and from a systems level, and encouraged me to find my strengths and purpose as I participate in the work of tackling some of these challenges.

Pam Van Halsema, Bay Area Discovery Museum and Coffey Strong

Before the leadership institute, I had a hard time seeing myself as a leader. I lacked the confidence in myself and the vision. In just 10 months with the program, I can, with confidence, say that I am a leader and I now have the vision to live to my fullest potential.

Heather Ah San, Sonoma Land Trust

The program was simply amazing. Moving from New York City a few days before the class began, I had no previous knowledge of sustainability issues. Through fascinating lectures, panel discussions, site tours, and networking with classmates, over the course of the year I developed a strong foundation that I will utilize for the rest of my life.

Jennifer Johnson, Foreign Service Officer, U.S. Department of State

The Leadership Institute is a transformative experience that engages leaders across all dimensions of their lives to embed positive change and effective action into our daily acts.

Aaron Schreiber-Stainthorp, Jackson Family Wines

Being very experienced in public policy squabbles in Los Angeles and San Francisco, but relatively new to Sonoma County, I found that the program offered precisely what I was hoping for – a well balanced introduction to many of the organizations, individuals, and issues in Sonoma County that matter. The program is designed in such a way that both veterans and newcomers to public policy will not be bored or mystified, respectively.

Woody Hastings, Renewable Energy Implementation Manager at Center for Climate Protection

The Leadership Institute addresses the entire spectrum of environmental issues in Sonoma County, covering the details about process as well as content along with an opportunity to meet and get to know some of the most influential leaders in the community. The Institute offers invaluable training for both newcomers to the County as well as those who’ve lived here all their lives.

Ken Wells, Executive Director of Sonoma County Trails Council and Former Director of the Sonoma County Waste Management Agency

The Leadership Institute’s classes are packed with information and food for thought. It also provides an excellent incubator for problem solving with other individuals concerned about issues critical to our future.

Una Glass, Sebastopol City Council, Aide to Former Supervisor Mike Reilly

The training actually changed my life, providing me with new insights on many issues related to sustainability, social equity, the economy and our environment.  In no small measure, the training helped me to develop the confidence and the skills I need to run for city council and serve the public.

Cindy Thomas

The Leadership Institute gave me an incredibly unique opportunity to learn and experience the relationship between our local economy and the natural environment that added depth to both my professional and personal life. The mix of student backgrounds allowed me to question, reinforce, and fine tune my own beliefs of what is the best course for our greater community of Sonoma County.

Pamela Tuft, AICP, Director of General Plan Administration, City of Petaluma

The Leadership Institute’s classes gave me the intellectual foundation for what I knew in my heart, and introduced me to a network of people with whom to discuss sustainability.

Sarah Gurney, Sebastopol City Council Member

I had never in my life been around a group of people with that much professional experience. I felt like I was among giants. I never saw myself as a leader until I took the training. I began to see myself differently. As an activist you lead in a populist way, dealing with emotions. This (the Leadership Training) was more purposeful, more thoughtful. I got a much better understanding of leadership.

Evelina Molina, Ventana Latina

The information and understanding makes me better at my job. It was very well thought out, and I’ve recommended it to other people.

Robert Judd, Former VP at Community Foundation Sonoma County

This (program) is for any individual that feels a passion for creating a better place in this world. You are provided with tools to help you focus and hone your enthusiasm and then asked to use that focus to effect change. There is nothing more valuable than being given the tools and encouragement to follow your dreams.

Nica Poznanovich, General Manager, Bella Rosa Coffee Company

What I think is exciting is seeing what other leaders in the community are doing with important issues. It inspires me, and it confirms that we’re on the right path.

Genevieve Taylor, Co-Executive Director Ag Innovations

As an academic ecologist, I had a broad, global knowledge of ecological and environmental issues, but only a shallow understanding about local environmental problems and how these interplay with local government policies.  The Leadership Institute inspired a shift in my career – to apply science directly toward preserving our natural resources, sustainable agriculture and the local economy.

Anna Sears, Ph.D.

The Leadership Institute program is a unique and exceptional way to learn the tenants of responsible business and how to effect change through public policy. This program will forever affect your vision of how you can contribute to society – no matter what you do.

Alison Healy, Executive Director Alliance for Smiles

Through the Leadership Institute I was able to see how the important issues of our time such as energy, water, health, agriculture, land use, transportation, and the economy are woven together in Sonoma County. And it was awesome to meet the local leaders creating community solutions for a more healthy, just, and ecologically vibrant world.

Sam Ruark, Executive Director at Green Built Alliance

Program Supporters

We are incredibly grateful to the Foundations and individuals who established and contribute to this program and our scholarship funds, without whom we could not provide this platform to help our participants expand their leadership potential and grow their impact in the world.

Fledgling Fund

Bancroft Foundation

Moira Chatton Memorial Scholarship

Speaker at the first Leadership Institute for Ecology and the Economy class in 2000, Moira Chatton was a beloved and passionate Sonoma County educator, businesswoman and environmentalist known for her keen mind and abiding spirit. In honor of her impactful and important role in Sonoma County, we are honored to celebrate her life and continue her impact by offering the Leadership Institute Moira Chatton Memorial Scholarship to support systemically underrepresented voices in participating in the Leadership Institute for Just and Resilient Communities.