Our Community Leadership Institute is a fellowship program that supports, trains and places emerging leaders from low-income communities and communities of color to sit on local boards and commissions.

Puget Sound Sage’s Community Leadership Institute (CLI) is a fellowship rooted in a values based curriculum focused on racial and social justice.

Launched in 2015, the six-month fellowship trains emerging leaders in issues such as housing, land use, transit, climate, and economic development. Graduates learn the nuts and bolts of local government processes, such as municipal budgeting, parliamentary procedures, and lawmaking, as well as advocacy, storytelling, and communication skills. After graduation, the fellows apply for and are placed on strategic boards, commissions, and task forces at the city and county level.

Patrice Thomas, 2015-2016 CLI

Why boards and commissions?

We have seen time and time again that barriers to entry into positions of decision-making power greatly hinder our capacity to influence long-term planning and policy in the region. In particular, people of color are under-represented on the boards, commissions, and advisory bodies that influence major decisions at the local and regional level.

Many leadership programs prepare people for elected office, advocacy, and organizational leadership. However, moving a regional equity agenda requires an ability for long-term participation in all government functions, especially in advisory bodies like boards, commissions, and task forces, which move major policy and funding decisions.

Meet the fellows

2021 CLI Fellows

Our 2020-2021 will graduate in April 2021.

2020 CLI Fellows

Our 2019-2020 cohort graduated in April 2020.

Program Impact

Currently, 80% of CLI graduates are serving on boards and commissions. We have received dozens of calls from local, regional, and even state officials requesting CLI graduates. The remaining 20% of program graduates are serving in various other leadership roles, including community organizing roles and on non-profit boards.

About the fellowship program

Each year, Puget Sound Sage with the support of the CLI Advisory Committee, comprised of recent graduates and community leaders, help recruit the incoming CLI cohort. Fifteen to eighteen emerging leaders from communities of color and low income communities are chosen to be resourced, trained, and placed on strategic boards and commissions within King County and Pierce County.

The six-month training includes eight-hour monthly Saturday sessions followed by Wednesday night panel discussions that dive deeper into the topic of the month.

To ensure full and active participation of all fellows throughout the program, Puget Sound Sage provides stipends, childcare, meals, and transportation support to eliminate any economic barriers that could impact emerging leaders from participating in the fellowship.

 

“In the CLI, I found a curriculum designed for people of color, connected to local leaders and grounded in a social justice lens that made me feel like my voice and my experience had a place at the table... After this fellowship, I feel more equipped to talk with elected officials, to talk with and work with people from different sectors, to analyze policy—and not just react to it. The CLI took my understanding of self and leadership, and paired it with this cohort, and a mentor to help me navigate the challenges ahead, preparing to be the voice for the communities I love.” - Taylor Tibbs, 2018 CLI graduate