Strengthening Community Leaders to Influence Change

Community leaders are not the same as organizational or business leaders. They represent a specific group and work to advocate for benefits and services for that group.  To strengthen the capacity of HIV Planning Group co-chairs to lead HIV Planning Groups efficiently and to effectively represent and engage their communities, the National Minority AIDS Council  (NMAC) developed a community leadership program.  This unique program strived to build the leadership capacity of community and government HIV planning leaders to address the HIV/AIDS epidemic in their respective jurisdictions.   Most leadership programs focus on organizational leadership; this initiative uses a different, community-focused, approach.

The method of leadership development incorporated a mixed methodological approach with Three primary components: an in-person training, leadership coaching, and access to electronic leadership resources. During and following each component, assessments were taken to note the development of the participants.  The data revealed behavior changes and moments of growth and a desire to share the knowledge with others in their communities. Based on the data from this national program, examples of leadership in different communities and states will be highlighted.