The primary program of the Nehemiah Community Foundation is the Nehemiah Emerging Leaders Program (NELP). NELP's purpose is to change the world for the better by developing a network of empowered, diverse leaders with the skills and passion for leading and for achieving catalytic change within their organizations, communities, and lives.
NELP prepares individuals for civic involvement while providing them with valuable leadership and problem-solving skills for use in the workplace. NELP is a collaboration of Nehemiah Community Foundation, Coro Northern California, and the Sacramento State University. This leadership development program in the Sacramento region aims to develop leaders of diversity who can become catalysts for change in their workplace and community.
Our region needs a resource that provides a diverse bench of young professionals. In 2002, TIME magazine called Sacramento the most diverse city in America (8/25/02: https://goo.gl/TbXFQf) and yet 20 years later less than 30% of our boards and commissions, and even fewer elected officials, are people of color.
NELP seeks to address this need each program collaborating partner bringing the best of its content, connections, and methods to the course. The rigorous seminars cover organizational analysis, team leadership dynamics, communication skills, and other Coro time-tested skills. The forums bring in national and regional leaders as 'field-faculty' to share their wisdom and experience and to serve as mentors and connectors.
Now preparing for Class XV, NELP each year selects a diverse cohort of high-potential young adults together in a 10-month program to develop a set of skills, abilities, and relationships that will enable them to move up the leadership ladder both professionally and in civic engagement. They develop an understanding of the systems contributing to government, nonprofit, and business issues and the methods to address them. They will recognize the value and importance of participation in community and start on the path to a lifetime of civic collaboration.
Nonprofits in the region have been crying out for younger and more diverse board members so that their leadership more closely reflects their clients, and NELP Fellows not only address that need, but come with a full toolbox of knowledge and skills to enhance the work of the organizations they serve. The impact goes far beyond each class as their enhanced skills, knowledge, and connections improve the services of the organizations whose boards and commissions they join as a requirement of the program. The primary impact may be to the Fellows, but the secondary impact is to the thousands of people who receive food, healthcare, job readiness, housing, and other critical services from organizations served by Fellows. To date, NELP alumni have taken 350 seats on local and statewide boards and commissions.
In 14 years, the NELP 'brand' has been established in the region and the 206 Fellows and alumni are visible all over Sacramento where leaders are gathered. They are taking their place at the tables of leadership, bringing with them the skills, knowledge, and relationships they have acquired through the program and using them to promote the public good.