Sustainability Accelerator: Practicing Community Empowerment and Local Leader Development

As global sustainability crises escalate, the world needs local sustainability leaders who have the capacity to create change. This course teaches skills, introduces tools, and provides experiential learning opportunities that teach change agents how to accelerate local leader development and empower community action. The course begins with an overview of theory and research on community empowerment and a review of successful sustainability initiatives. Then, utilizing an experiential act-to-learn model (rather than a traditional learn-to-act approach), students are assigned to teams and paired with external sustainability practitioners (for example, change leaders working on social justice, climate, education, infrastructure, or health initiatives). Students learn community engagement skills and praxis (creating space for reflection and collective action) with practitioners' target community beneficiaries. After engaging with beneficiaries, students provide partners with a clearer picture of the community's needs and collaborate to co-create an updated community-centric theory of change and a draft a proposed community-led project charter. Throughout the course, students learn practical skills and tools associated with community empowerment and local leadership development. Students also learn and practice reflective coaching and engage in weekly coaching sessions.