... 12 week WPUSA Leadership Institute
The Working Partnerships Leadership Institute is a twelve-week course that brings together twenty progressive Silicon Valley leaders from different communities, issue areas, and sectors. In a lively, interactive environment, participants hear from leading thinkers and learn from the diverse experiences that their peers bring to the table.
Week by week, the curriculum explores different aspects of the political and economic landscape in the South Bay:
- Political history
- Mapping local power players
- Strategic initiatives
- Understanding social values across the political spectrum
- Progressive alliance building
- Local opposition to progressive power
- The labor movement
- Public finance and budget advocacy
- Demographic trends
- Economic trends
Through a group project, participants apply their knowledge to conduct a strategic analysis of a current policy question, looking for innovative solutions and opportunities to move a progressive agenda and build power. Group project topics have included:
- Creating the San Jose living wage ordinance
- Ensuring that city-subsidized downtown development brought benefits to the community
- Expanding access to health care in Santa Clara County
- Reframing the issue of eminent domain
- Job growth in Coyote Valley
- Affordable housing for very low income and extremely low income families
- Increasing voter registration among youth, naturalized citizens, and people of color
- Disaster preparedness for vulnerable communities
Read the Fall 09 Leadership Institute Curriculum Overview.
The Institute is co-sponsored by San Jose State University’s Local Officials Leadership Academy.
2102 Almaden Road, Ste. 112
San Jose, CA 95125
p: 408.809.2120
f: 408.269.0183
e: info@wpusa.org