NES Neighborhood Leadership Academy
The Near East Side Neighborhood Leadership Academy is designed to provide community members with the knowledge, relationships, and confidence to discover their existing leadership abilities and play a leading role in community change.
The 2025 academy will comprise of 9 sessions taking place over 11 sessions from May to October and will focus on three content areas Academy instructors will also provide resources and assign learning activities to enhance the learning experience throughout the week.
Applications for the 2025 Cohort are now closed!
Focus Areas for the 2025 Summer Cohort
Food Access - developing a collaborative strategy for data collection, information sharing and distribution of food on the NES including bringing a grocery store to the community and convening existing partners.
Affordable Housing - The Near East side is at the leading edge of a growing and changing Central Ohio. New homes, new businesses, and new neighbors are bringing in new opportunities to the community, but also higher housing costs. This track will focus on solutions for keeping the Near East side a home for all.
Organizing for Action - In this track, we focus on efforts to build collaborations between local leaders, residents, business owners, and everyday residents to go beyond just meeting daily challenges and towards crafting empowering community policy, organizing for change, and connecting with other communities.
Participants will also be able to meet and interact with other community leaders from around the neighborhood, who will be connected to the academy through individual classes and ongoing interaction and mentorship.
This year the 2025 cohort will involve two phases:
Phase 1 (May 17 - June 28) will be a shorter time commitment and will focus on learning the history of the Near East Side community and introduce community leadership concepts. Activities and assignments will consist of participating in community centered events, tours, and interviews.
Phase 2 will involve deeper learning and project planning based on the learning tracks previously described. This phase will consist of online and in-person course work. Content will focus on deepening understanding of structural inequities, relationship and coalition building, navigating local government and grants processes as well as exploring individual leadership styles. Phase 2 participants will be required to develop and lead a community project based on the learning tracks as a part of the program.