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Session Title: Examining and Understanding the Power and Impact of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Community Health Leaders Programs
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Panel Session 866 to be held in Balboa C on Saturday, Nov 5, 9:50 AM to 11:20 AM
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Sponsored by the Non-profit and Foundations Evaluation TIG
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| Chair(s): |
| Laura Leviton, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, llevito@rwjf.org
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| Discussant(s):
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| Claire ReineIt, Leadership Learning Community, claire@leadershiplearning.org
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| Abstract:
This session presents the evaluation findings of three interrelated community health leadership programs supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). The first two presentations will focus on the RWJF Community Health Leaders (CHL) Award Program which has recognized hundreds of innovative leaders who have made extraordinary contributions to increasing access to quality health care and improving health outcomes at the community level. The third presentation focuses on findings from the evaluation of the Ladder to Leadership: Developing the Next Generation of Community Health Leaders which is a collaborative initiative of RWJF and the Center for Creative Leadership. The initiative focuses on developing critical leadership competencies of early- to mid-career professionals. Key questions to be addressed are: (1) What factors are most influential in determining leaders' pathways? (3) What are the most significant commonalities among the leaders? (4) What are the key challenges and lessons learned and their implications?
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Critical Leadership Pathways Among the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Rural Community Health Leaders
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| Alberto Cardelle, East Stroudsburg University, acardelle@po-box.esu.edu
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The paper presents the results of an evaluation of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Community Health Leaders (CHL) program. Specifically it identifies the critical life pathways taken by the leaders working on rural health issues. The evaluation used a mixed method approach. It used social network analysis to identify the paths that the leaders took to their positions and it developed and analyzed in-depth cases studies of 12 leaders. The evaluation integrated both analyzes to identify the pathways and the common factors across the different leadership experiences. The results show that the critical components of rural leaders' pathways included: early exposure to social injustice and an activist family member; a passion for an ideal; experience with networks, that gave them exposure to government entities and other leaders in their community; skills that allowed them to be problem solvers; and a history of seeking positions of leadership.
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The Powerful Pathways of Diverse San Francisco Bay Area Community Health Leaders
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| Hanh Cao Yu, Social Policy Research Associates, hanh_cao_yu@spra.com
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This presentation highlights the results of a qualitative study that drew from leadership dialogue circles, and biographical interviews of 9 San Francisco Community Health Leaders (CHLs). The evaluation analyzed the influential forces and defining events that shaped CHLs' paths to leadership and employed a framework for analysis that incorporated "critical life maps." CHLs' identities and philosophies were shaped by their families, living abroad, immigration to the USA, various mentors, coming of age during the Civil Rights Movement, and catalytic experiences to overcome adversity and find inner strength. CHLs' achieved breakthroughs despite struggles to staying true to self and community needs; maintaining organizational focus and cutting edge; collaborating effectively, and negotiating political processes. The leaders' arrival into legitimate power and greatness was meaningfully punctuated by the RWJF leadership award which further impacted their leadership trajectory, supported their networking, and enabled them to leverage the award in organizational development and programmatic work.
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Evaluation Findings from Ladder to Leadership: An Emerging Community Health Leaders Program
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| Heather Champion, Center for Creative Leadership, championh@ccl.org
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| Tracy Patterson, Center for Creative Leadership, pattersont@ccl.org
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Ladder to Leadership is a 16-month leadership development program aimed at increasing leadership skills and professional networks for emerging, non-profit, community health leaders from eight communities across the US. Each cohort of up to 30 Fellows participated in three multi-day, face-to-face leadership development sessions; action learning projects; professional coaching; and developmental goal setting. A comprehensive, longitudinal evaluation was designed to measure the impact of the program on the Fellows, their organizations, and their community. Findings from the immediate post-program measures of the first three cohorts show that over 80% of Fellows and their 360né¦ Observers reported that Fellows demonstrated increased confidence, leadership effectiveness, readiness for leadership responsibilities, and readiness for promotion. Increases in their professional networks were also reported. In addition to the impact on the individuals and their organizations, impact on the Fellows communities and the sustainability of impact one year post-program will also be discussed.
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