Community of Practice for Directors

WHAT COP OFFERS

We are a resilient community! We recognize that the past couple of years have presented new and different challenges. We have witnessed your commitment, creativity, courage and resiliency as we have dealt with the ever-changing landscape of our work.

This virtual 8-month community of practice is designed to create an intentional space for up to 12 directors from service-learning or community engagement centers to come together on a regular basis to:

• Create and deeply engage in an inclusive learning community in which all experiences are honored and their challenging questions are explored.
• Reflect on the gifts, passions, and identity they bring to this work.
• Expand their leadership capacity to sustain and grow service-learning and civic and community engagement in their institutions and in the field.
• Learn tools and strategies to strengthen their ability to foster and deepen their campus’s engagement with communities.
• Explore the tensions and challenges inherent in the work.
• Envision and strategize how they can help shape the future of the field in California.
• Develop an individual action plan to support personal and professional development.
• Rejuvenate and reflect via various contemplative and self-care practices.

“I got to enter a community of practice, where I was paired with other directors of centers similar to mine at a diversity of institutions around California… it’s just so refreshing to have people across the state that LEAD California brought together. I’m really excited – I think it is one of the most important things with LEAD California – bringing professionals like myself and others together so that we are doing right by this work, and we are finding ways to really engage in meaningful ways.

Patrick Furlong, Director of the Center for Service and Action, Loyola Marymount University