2024 Emerging Leaders Institute

If we want the mission of community media to grow and endure the next twenty years, we need a next generation of community media leadership.

And we can grow that generation of emerging leaders with your help.  

We know that community media will face new challenges and opportunities as technologies, legal frameworks and communities may profoundly change.  On top of this, a generation of leaders in our field will retire and pass the torch of leadership to others in coming years.

We think it's essential the we nurture and empower emerging leaders to meet the challenges we face.    We know this from our work - It's our superpower in community media - We support others. 

Over the last four years, the Community Media Emerging Leaders Institute has supported over 90 participants and emerging leaders from across the United States by exploring their leadership style and capacity and helping people chart their leadership journey.

With your help today, we will host the Institute again over four weeks in October 2023 for another class of emerging leaders.   The Institute is led by Paula Manley and Toni Tabora-Roberts, two women with a deep track record of success building organizations and leaders in local community media.   

Your tax deductible donation to the Foundation will expand our training and support of young leaders at the Institute by allowing us to reduce the cost of tuition for participants. 

What kind of impact will your gift have?    Here's some perspective from a recent student:

"Participating in the Emerging Leader Institute has had a massive impact on my professional life. It came at the perfect time for me as I was transitioning into a new role as the Executive Director at WCA-TV. Listening to others experiences and working with other leaders in the community media field really helped shape my path forward in this role. Not only that, but I was provided with an abundance of tools that I use to this day to grow and enhance my leadership skills, and encourage others to grow in leadership roles as well. The ELI is a great opportunity for anyone looking to step into a leadership role and succeed in doing so. You won’t find a better group of people to learn and share experiences with."

Your donation today helps us grow the next generation of community media leaders  and build the future of community media.    

If we reach our goal of $10,000 for either project, our matching pool gift is up to $1,500.00.

Thank you!