CDC Leadership Program

05/23/2026

Leadership Inspiration✨

"The most important thing in good leadership is truly caring."
-Dean Smith

from Keri Palma, a graduate of Cohort III, from Ohio City Incorporated

05/22/2026

📅 Session Recap | Rallying Your Neighborhood for Change
At our most recent CDCLP session, participants explored how to move from ideas to action when creating meaningful neighborhood change. Key takeaways included:
• Learning how to identify community issues and build strategies for action, led by Mark Chupp Case Western Reserve University
• Exploring asset‑based community development and how to mobilize the strengths, relationships, and networks already present in neighborhoods
• Engaging in community visioning exercises and case studies with Greg Peckham Conservancy for Cuyahoga Valley National Park
• Building skills in community mediation and conflict resolution, including active listening and navigating competing interests, with Ian Heisey Ideastream News
• Practicing tools to collaborate, organize, and rally communities around a shared vision for change

05/14/2026

Leadership Inspiration✨

"The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant."
-Max DePree

from Julie Dahlhausen, a graduate of Cohort II, from Tremont West Development Corporation

05/12/2026

The Greater Collinwood Development Corporation (GCDC) is looking for its next Executive Director! The board is seeking a visionary and results-driven leader to transform the organization into a high-performing and well-connected entity that actively serves and strengthens the greater Collinwood community.
Visit the link for the full job description and information on how to apply: https://loom.ly/0L_PoIs

05/08/2026

🚀 Now Recruiting: CDCLP Cohort VI
If you’re committed to strengthening your leadership and making a lasting impact in Cleveland’s neighborhoods, this is your next step.
Through practical learning, coaching, and connection, CDCLP is designed to expand your capacity to lead within the community development space — alongside a network of peers who share your passion for transformative work.
Applications for Cohort VI are now open.
🗓 Apply by July 31 at 5:00 PM
👉 Take the next step in your leadership journey: https://loom.ly/8uiS5jc

Apply to CDCLP TAKE THE NEXT STEP IN Your Leadership Journey The CDCLP is open to participants currently or desirous of being a leader in the CDC sector of Cleveland. The CDCLP Cohort VI will consist of approximately 20 participants from various backgrounds including: CDC executive directors Senior....

04/30/2026

Leadership Inspiration✨

"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world."
-Anne Frank

from Allison Woods, a graduate of Cohort IV, from West Park Kamm's Neighborhood Development

04/22/2026

Earth Day reminds us that community development, like environmental stewardship, requires long‑term vision, care, and responsibility. By strengthening leaders, investing in people, and building organizations rooted in equity and accountability, we help lay the groundwork for neighborhoods that are resilient, healthy, and sustainable over time. Today, we celebrate the leaders doing the everyday work of caring for place, people, and the future.

04/14/2026

Leadership Inspiration✨

"The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails."
-Arthur Ward

from Ed Peppers, a graduate of Cohort III, from MidTown Cleveland, Inc.

04/11/2026

Leadership Inspiration✨

"Starting tomorrow you can change the world. The nation's counting on you to create, to lead, to innovate...Be bold, be courageous, be your best."
-Former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords

from Annette Iwamoto, a graduate of Cohort II, from Cuyahoga Human Services Chamber

04/08/2026

📅 Session Recap | Crisis Communications & Leading with a Trauma‑Informed Lens

At our most recent CDCLP session, participants explored how leaders can respond with clarity, care, and intention during challenging moments.
• Learning the core principles of crisis communications — from audience identification to message framing — with Bruce Hennes from Hennes Communications
• Exploring the difference between acting vs. performing in moments of crisis, and how credibility and trust are built
• Deepening understanding of trauma‑informed leadership in the afternoon with Amy Korsch and Ivan Conard from the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences at Case Western Reserve University
• Identifying ways to recognize and prevent burnout and secondary trauma at the individual, team, and organizational levels
• Exploring how to build organizational cultures rooted in connection, care, and resilience

04/04/2026

Learn more about some of the great work our graduates are doing here 👉 https://loom.ly/jjHeM2c

Neighborhood group restoring a neighborhood two houses at a time, Start Right Development Corporation committed to fortifying East Cleveland/Cleveland Heights border