PROGRAM EXAMPLES
LeaderSpark/Franklinton
LeaderSpark conducted 10 programs in the Franklinton neighborhood over the past six years. This United Way funded-program, Leadership for Change in Targeted Neighborhoods, focuses on skills development. Leadership for Change trains youth and adults in leadership skills that they use in project-driven activities to increase neighborhood engagement and community identity. LeaderSpark partners with the Franklinton Area Commission, Columbus Metropolitan Library, and other neighborhood groups to deliver neighborhood-based, intergenerational, practical leadership skills training. Key activities include collaborative planning, facilitator training and coaching support, and a 24-hour interactive leadership skills development curriculum. Outcomes include an increased capacity to engage in community activities and the implementation of service projects that benefit residents and increase neighborhood pride.
LeaderSpark/Ethiopian Tewahedo Social Services
LeaderSpark partners with Ethiopian Tewahedo Social Services (ETSS) for several programs, including one in Whitehall for Ethiopian youth; another for Somali and other Pan-African new Americans at Neighborhood House; and another held in the ETSS offices on Mt. Vernon Avenue. This year, LeaderSpark's partnership with ETSS will expand to one of the United Way targeted neighborhoods of Northland. Twenty middle and high school teens and five college students will go through LeaderSpark training on Saturday afternoons. They will develop and implement project activities, deliver presentations to various audiences within the neighborhood, and connect with the broader community at the ETSS Youth Summit.
LeaderSpark started a new, semester-long, afterschool program with the Groveport Madison Local Schools. Students receive .5 flex credits in social studies for completing 60 hours of LeaderSpark training and participating in community projects during the school year. Teachers completing LeaderSpark Facilitator Training and serving as LeaderSpark facilitators receive one Continuing Education Unit in professional development. LeaderSpark Groveport Madison participants gain self-confidence through a greater awareness of their own strengths; practice team-building and group facilitation; and apply their new knowledge and skills in service projects.
LeaderSpark/Groveport Madison
LeaderSpark/Columbus Global Academy
Pan-African immigrants are a growing population in the greater Columbus area. Columbus is home to the second-largest Somalian community in the United States. Teens involved in this program face challenges of being racial and ethnic minorities, and economically disadvantaged. They have above average school drop-out rates and are often not positively engaged in school and community groups. Leadership training is an innovative strategy for them. Columbus Global Academy (CGA) is a Columbus City school that serves these students. To help acculturate and support CGA learners in their academic, social, and emotional development, LeaderSpark provides training in an after school format one day a week. LeaderSpark training and project-driven learning helps CGA students earn the internship hours they need to graduate from high school.
LeaderSpark/Central Community House
Central Community House (CCH), which is situated in a high crime area, is one of six settlement houses in the greater Columbus area and serves the near southside. LeaderSpark, through support from United Way of Central Ohio and the McCoy Peterson Foundation, works with CCH to develop leadership skills in youth through learning how to plan group projects and work together to bring about positive neighborhood change. Based on positive evaluation data from participants and CCH staff, the agency wants to continue to work with LeaderSpark as a fundamental program for teens in the neighborhood. Starbucks employees volunteer to work with students and participate in youth-led project activities.
