The Institute’s Environmental Leadership Training Course is designed to instill the three core leadership values of self-mastery, interdependence, and reflective leadership in community residents, who apply them to solving storm water run-off and combined sewer overflow problems in target areas of Philadelphia.
Below is the Community Leadership Training Institute course curriculum.
Session 1
Orientation
- Introductions
- Goals of course: Best Practices of leadership development applied to community water quality improvement
- Course overview: Session 1 leadership/water quality trainings alternating with Session 2 hands-on practical water quality project activities
- Expectations of participants: develop leadership values and apply them to solving storm water run-off and combined sewer overflow problems in target areas of Philadelphia
Being proactive
- Being proactive
- Beginning with results in view
- Time management: putting first things first
Water Quality Training
- How our watersheds are contaminated
- How water contaminants are removed
- Storm water run-off: causes and cures
Assignment
- Preparation for Session 2 practical experience
Session 2
Participants will apply what they learned in Session 1 to field activities in a targeted American Cities Foundation program zone.
Assignment
- A brief reflection paper consisting of two or three paragraphs on how Sessions 1 and 2 are changing participants’ thinking about water quality issues
Session 3
Interdependence Training
- Win/Win strategy as a personal life habit
- Listening to understand: speaking to be understood
- Every member of the group matters: the sum is greater than the parts
Water Quality Training
- Cultural diversity and storm water management
- How individual and collective community actions can improve water quality
Assignment
- Preparation for Saturday practical experience
Session 4
Participants will apply what they learned in Session 3 to field activities in a targeted American Cities Foundation program zone.
Assignment
- A brief reflection paper consisting of two or three paragraphs on how Sessions 3 and 4 are changing participants’ thinking about water quality issues
Session 5
Reflective Leadership Training
- Purpose and results determine the success of an activity
- How to use silence as a way to focus your thoughts and ideas
- How to see problems and opportunities in a new and useful way
Water Quality Training
- Water quality environmental law and enforcement
- How to organize a sustainable water quality action plan
Assignment
- Preparation for Session 6 practical experience
Session 6
Participants will apply what they learned in Session 5 to field activities in a targeted American Cities Foundation program zone.
Assignment
- A brief reflection paper consisting of two or three paragraphs on how Sessions 5 and 6 are changing participants’ thinking about water quality issues
Session 7
Participants form groups, decide what water quality promotion activity each group will perform within one month after course completion; record each group member’s commitment to group’s work; groups agree to hold all group members accountable for commitments made.
Session 8
Participants will apply knowledge and skills gained to field activities in a targeted American Cities Foundation program zone. Participants submit a short paper on “How this Course has Changed My Attitude About Water Quality and What I Plan to Do About It”.
Assignment
- Participants are to carry out the water quality promotion activity they have agreed to between the course ending date and the class reunion (one month after completion of the course) and come to a class reunion with proof of their completed activity in order to receive their course completion certificates.