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Current Campaigns – Civic Leadership Institute

Today, many believe that a new and just America is only a presidential election away. But it isn't about one leader or even one party. It is about how we rebuild an engaged and empowered movement that builds bridges, moves beyond party lines and brings communities with common interests together for a more equitable future.
We believe that winning political power nationally begins at home when people join together at the grass roots to craft creative responses to difficult problems in their own communities. By building alliances for sensible development policies, affordable health care, workers' rights, improved public education, affordable housing, environmental justice and more, local coalitions can create the infrastructure for sustainable change

Despite Connecticut's status as the state with the highest per capita income, the growing income divide is as stark here as anywhere. The Civic Leadership Institute of Connecticut is committed to building a leadership base capable of designing and implementing public policy to close the income gap and improve the overall quality of life for all of Connecticut's residents.

In a seven-session series of locally-conducted seminars and workshops CLIC will bring together neighborhood activists, union leaders, clergy and others to critically examine our shared regional economy and the common challenges we face in diverse sectors of this economy. With this shared understanding , participants are then in a position to shape community-centered economic and social policy.

Program Structure

The Civic Leadership Institute will launch in both New Haven and Hartford in 2007. While the specifics of the program may vary between the cities, the overall structure will be built upon five basic modules:
1. Understanding the Regional Economy
2. Understanding Our Regional History: Business, Labor and Community Influence
    in Regional Development
3. Building Power to Rebuild the Social Contract in Our Region
4. Activist Government in a New Economy
5. Strengthening Democratic Grassroots Institution

The course will be both lively and interactive. We aim to foster a participatory learning environment, enhanced by the insight and experience of the participants
The Institute's instruction team includes an exciting group of practitioners, academics from the University of Connecticut, Yale, Southern Connecticut State University, and other academic institutions as well as prosminent community and labor leaders.