The Youth Leadership Initiative is a 5-month program designed to help teenagers become future Global Leaders

The Youth Leadership Initiative is open to 11th or 12th graders from Ridgefield or Danbury

Are you an 11th or 12th grader from Ridgefield or Danbury? 

Are you ready to tap into your power as a change leader?

To collaborate across diverse communities?

To shape a future in which people and planet can flourish?

Explore becoming part of a five-month Youth Leadership Initiative from January – May 2024.

What is the Cost?

This program is free!

What do you do in the youth leadership initiative?

You will meet with leading social entrepreneurs, environmental designers, and social justice advocates to learn how to draw from respected models of leadership, in order to move positive change in your contexts. Building on what you learn, as a team you will identify a pivotal issue you would like to address and create a change initiative that you will lead based on your shared experiences, learnings, and leadership vision.

Where are the Youth Leadership Initiative meetings?

We will meet at The Meetinghouse in Ridgefield, CT.
Address:

The Meetinghouse
602 Ridgebury Road
Ridgefield, CT 06877

We are located at the intersection of George Washington Highway and Ridgebury Road. The Meetinghouse connects diverse communities and fosters collaborative interaction toward flourishing by providing a leveler where connection and conversation are open and inclusive and brave space to be, belong, and become.

The Teaching Team

The teaching team will include Global Coaches, Social Entrepreneurs & Local Leaders  

THE CORE TEAM 

Deborah Rundlett is the director of The Meetinghouse. As a global coach and facilitator, she is passionate about equipping leaders to serve local and global communities through the  nurture of wisdom, sustainable practice, and change leadership. 

Anita Howard grew up at the forefront of the  Civil Rights Movement. Her passion for social justice leadership and change is a direct outgrowth of early involvement in the social action that changed American history, leading to various professional roles in university administration (at Radcliffe, Harvard, and Tufts  Universities in Boston, MA) and organizational  consulting (co-founder, J. Howard & Associates,  Inc. and The Efficacy Institute in Boston, MA;  consultant for The Algebra Project, Benjamin  Banneker Charter School, and other social change projects in Boston and beyond).  

Heather Cochrane was raised in Ridgefield and has been a Connecticut high school biology (among other sciences) teacher for many years. She is now in the process of creating a hydroponic farm at The Meetinghouse to support young adults in learning about  agriculture, hydroponics, and where food comes from so that they may be more aware citizens and gain career possibilities.  

What are the times and dates of the Leadership initiative?

January – May 2024
First & Third Sundays
from 1:30 pm – 4 pm
The first meeting is on January 21, 2024

To Apply:

Deadline: 12/5/23

To apply, please respond to the questions below by 12/5/23: 

1. What are three favorite things about yourself? 
2. When you think about leadership, what comes to mind? 
3. What made you apply to this leadership program?
4. What would you like to accomplish during your time in this program?
5. What is an accomplishment you are most proud of?
6. What questions do you have for us?

Please email your responses to: 

Connect@Meetinghouse.life

TO LEARN MORE:

Please email Deborah Rundlett the director:  Deborah@Meetinghouse.life