Center for Neighborhood Leadership

The Center for Neighborhood Leadership was founded jointly by ANHD and the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC), a policy and advocacy organization of more than 200 groups in New York State that work with immigrants and refugees. The goal of the Center is to strengthen grassroots activism in our city by providing sustainable, multi-layered assistance for neighborhood-based organizing in our city, providing community groups the support infrastructure they need in the exact ways they need it. The project’s three components are: an Apprenticeship Program to recruit, train and place community
organizers in neighborhood-based member organizations of ANHD and/or NYIC; an Advanced Community Organizer Fellowship to provide peer learning, enhanced training, and resources to more experienced organizers to enable them to remain and thrive in this field; and a Collaborative to provide extensive resources, networking, sharing of best practices, and ongoing training opportunities to community organizers.

After completing its first full year of operations, the Center began its second apprenticeship cycle in September 2010, with 10 apprentice organizers who received training and mentoring, while performing hands-on work at 10 host organizations. As with our first cohort, our second apprenticeship class, comprised of seven nationalities and six spoken languages, brings strong commitment and a broad background in grassroots community organizing and development work.