Accountability
- Taking responsibility for one’s actions, behaviors, commitments, and growth
- Awareness and unpacking of one’s privilege, and ensuring that it does not inflict intentional harm
Anti-Oppression
- Take account of the impact of power, inequality, inequity, and oppression on all people
- Centering human dignity and championing liberation for all people
Community
- Contribute to building, and not tearing down, the networks that support proximate leaders and allow others to thrive professionally and personally
- Creating change through collaboration and inclusion
Continuous Growth
- Emphasizing thoughtful clarification of issues and systems that may not be fully understood by all
- Encouraging yourself and others to evolve and grow based on new learnings and growth-centered conversations
- Willingness to learn in a brave space, where all have the right to start somewhere, coupled with the responsibility to examine what we think we know
Equity
- Active and ongoing interrogation of existing power structures
- Commitment to creating societies and systems that administer justice for all
Progress
- Committing to being better and doing better as an individual and community
- Challenging complacency with the status quo
Transparency
- Being upfront, authentic, and open
- Fostering trust through consistent policies and clear decision making practices
Trust
- Honoring our lived experiences and recognizing that people’s stories deepen our understanding of one another and the communities we serve.
- Practicing accountability in community, holding ourselves and each other to values that advance equity
- Building relationships that sustain positive impact, allowing leaders to take risks, learn, and grow together
Community: Where Leadership Begins
NLC builds community power by bringing together local leaders who are closest to the challenges, and the possibilities, within their cities and states.
Our Fellows form deep, trust-filled relationships that break isolation, build belonging, and create the conditions for collective action.
This community is the cornerstone of our model: a place where leaders sharpen their purpose, expand their networks, and find the support they need to drive change that lasts.
Leadership: A New Model Rooted in Proximity
NLC trains generations to instill a new kind of leadership across the country. Leadership rooted in proximity, equity, and collective action.
Fellows and Alumni experience NLC as a bootcamp, rest stop, and town square, practicing the skills that build power for underrepresented individuals and communities.
This community of trust gives leaders the space to ideate, learn, and grow together. NLC develops, connects, and uplifts inclusive, cross‑sector leaders who strengthen our country through social and political change rooted in equity.
Movement: Building Power That Transforms Systems
The Community Leadership Movement is powered by more than 15,000 NLC alumni who are reshaping culture, policy, and systems in every sector.
Together, they form a national network of proximate leaders who share resources, mobilize across cities and states, and accelerate change that has taken years of persistence to build.
This movement expands the capacity of leaders advancing equity, and grows a nationwide ecosystem of alumni and national partners working together to transform our country through social and political change rooted in community.