Fourteen Community Leadership Programs across the country are participating in the inaugural pilot, reaching over 800 leaders this year alone. Together, they are testing, adapting, and refining the curriculum for use in different communities and leadership development settings.
CULTIVATING
Collaborative Leadership
What if every community could solve its toughest problems together?
Convergence and the National Community Leadership Collaborative (NCLC) are partnering to bring collaborative problem-solving skills to communities across America, equipping local leaders to bridge divides, build trust, navigate conflict, and work together to tackle their communities’ toughest challenges. Through a national pilot with 14 Community Leadership Programs — reaching over 800 leaders this year alone —we’re developing a scalable approach to make collaborative problem-solving a core part of community leadership development.
In partnership with
ABOUT THE PROGRAM
Building Community Capacity to Solve Problems Together
Across America, communities face complex and interconnected challenges—from housing affordability and workforce shortages to childcare, public safety, and economic opportunity. Addressing these challenges requires more than strong individual leaders. It requires leaders who can work across differences, bring diverse stakeholders together, and turn competing perspectives into collaborative action. While significant investments have been made in developing individual leaders, far less attention has been paid to building the collective capacity of communities to solve problems together.
We believe that represents one of the greatest opportunities for strengthening communities across America.
A National Partnership to Cultivate Collaborative Leadership
Convergence and NCLC are combining their complementary strengths to help make collaborative problem-solving a defining skill of community leadership. Convergence brings nearly two decades of experience designing and facilitating collaborative processes that help leaders navigate conflict, build trust, find shared interests, and develop durable solutions to complex challenges. NCLC connects more than 1,000 Community Leadership Programs across the country, collectively reaching more than 25,000 leaders each year. These programs already bring together influential leaders from business, government, nonprofits, and civic life, creating powerful networks for community action.
Rather than creating another standalone leadership program, this initiative builds on that existing infrastructure, equipping local programs to embed collaborative problem-solving into their leadership development efforts. The goal is to strengthen not only the skills of individual leaders, but also the relationships, processes, and collaborative capacity that communities can draw upon to address challenges for years to come.
HOW THE PROGRAM WORKS
The initiative combines a practical, evidence-based curriculum with local implementation, facilitator training, and opportunities for ongoing learning and collaboration.
Collaborative Leadership Curriculum
A flexible, nine-module curriculum equips leaders with practical skills to understand polarization, navigate conflict, engage across differences, identify shared interests, build trust, design collaborative processes, and develop consensus solutions. Interactive exercises, simulations, and real-world application help participants translate these skills into action on challenges facing their own communities.
Train-the-Trainer Model
Convergence provides training and support to equip local Community Leadership Program staff and facilitators to deliver the curriculum, adapt it to their communities, and integrate collaborative problem-solving into their existing programs.
Local Application and Community Impact
Convergence provides training and support to equip local Community Leadership Program staff and facilitators to deliver the curriculum, adapt it to their communities, and integrate collaborative problem-solving into their existing programs.
Shared Learning and Continuous Improvement
A national Community of Practice enables participating programs to exchange insights, share effective approaches, and learn from one another. Evaluation and feedback will inform ongoing improvements to the curriculum and support future expansion.
Meet the 14 Pilot Programs
Leadership Arlington • Leadership Austin • Lead DSM • FOCUS St. Louis • Leadership Greater Hartford • Leadership Houston • Leadership Howard County • Leadership Greater Huntsville • Leadership Louisville • Leadership Lynchburg • Leadership Jacksonville • Leadership Knoxville • Leadership Montgomery County • Leadership Greater Washington (DC)
Together, these organizations are helping establish a model that can strengthen collaborative leadership across the country.
From a National Pilot to Lasting Community Impact
The 14-program pilot is just the beginning. Our long-term vision is to make collaborative problem-solving a core competency of community leadership development nationwide. By embedding these skills within established programs, we have an opportunity to reach successive generations of leaders and strengthen the capacity of communities to address challenges together.
As the model is tested, evaluated, and refined, we envision expanding to additional Community Leadership Programs across NCLC’s national network. The ultimate measure of success isn’t simply how many leaders complete a training. It’s whether communities become better equipped to work across differences, solve problems, and sustain collaborative action over time.
Build a More Collaborative Future With Us
We’re building a growing network of community leaders, organizations, and supporters who believe that our communities can solve their toughest challenges when people have the skills, relationships, and processes to work together.
Whether you’re part of a Community Leadership Program interested in future participation, a potential funding or implementation partner, or someone who shares our vision for stronger communities, we’d welcome the opportunity to connect. Hannah Ollenburger, will be in touch to explore the right support for you.
