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Nuestra Comunidad Hispanic Festival

• College Link and ENLACE Day

Youth Mentorship

International Capacity Building & Training

Applied Research

University Partnership

Grassroots Leadership Program

The JWPC offers a learning experience that transforms lives and neighborhoods. Funded by the University Area CDC, the Grassroots Leadership program offers you the unique opportunity to network with neighbors from other communities, interact with local government officials, and tap the resources of the University of South Florida.

The training is fun, exciting, interactive and extremely useful. Not only does it give you skills to improve your community, it also will enhance relationship skills in your life and your family. By the end of the training, the participants do not want it to end. They maintain the relationships they have formed not only with their fellow classmates, but also with the staff of the JWPC and others within the university and community.

During the program you will put what you are learning into practice by working with a group of leaders who share the same goals for their communities. Your project team will further their own community’s goals while sharing resources, ideas, and expertise with one another.

Commitment to the entire program is paramount, as class size is limited. Completing this program may increase the possibility of funding for community-based efforts. Each class provides the opportunity for participants to develop their own community project, while they learn the necessary tools to implement it into their community of choice.

Mission

We develop community leaders who will engage the community in meaningful dialogue and civic action to build stronger communities. In order to create common ground, we model a facilitative leadership style that values the personal experience and wisdom of the participants. Specifically, we teach leadership skills; including visioning, strategic planning, project management, communication and team building.

Community Impact

The community had a need, and we listened...

The Grassroots Leadership Program began in 2004 with the “Across the Bay” class. Initially, the program targeted local government and its employees. However, it soon became clear that the real need in the community was providing support to the people who lived in the community, so they could contribute to making a change in their own community, interact with government and solve their community issues. To date, we have graduated over 400 Grassroots leaders including youth, neighborhood association leaders, faith-based leaders, university area business members, and nonprofit leaders both locally and internationally from 6 Central American and Caribbean countries, to name a few.

To date, our Grassroots Leaders have developed over 60 community improvement projects in areas such as:

Neighborhood Enhancement (recycling projects, hazardous waste disposal education)
Cultural Awareness (afterschool program for Costa Ricans, cultural arts fairs)
Health Improvement (community health fair, health education for youth, mobile van with resources/medical supplies for low-income moms)
Education and Literacy (financial literacy workshops for low-income families, college-readiness workshops, business workshops for women, voter education)
Youth Development (mentoring and tutoring for elementary, middle and high school students)

Manatee County Partners with The Jim Walter Partnership Center...

JWPC Partnered with the City of ST. Petersburg and conducted various neighborhood meetings and helped develop a needs assessment at the Childs Park YMCA. The Grassroots Leadership classes were held: September 15th, 22nd, 29th & October 5th in the Childs Park Neighborhood. Rather than conducting full-day, Saturday sessions, the program was offered on weekday evenings and was presented as a “fast-track” to grassroots community development. The class brought together diverse leaders and community members including: the Mayor of St. Pete, a leader in the Pinellas County School System, city commissioners, and dedicated neighborhood residents. A Pinellas County commissioner attended the graduation ceremony. The final project developed from this class was a Christmas neighborhood community festival. The festival will be held on December 10^th at Childs Park.