Emerging Leaders Gather at the Historic Alex Haley Farm

October 17-19, 2007, participants in the Service-Learning Emerging Leaders Initiative traveled from across the country to meet at the The Alex Haley Farm in Clinton, Tenn. The retreat center and former home of Alex Haley — author of Roots: The Saga of an American Family and co-author of The Autobiography of Malcolm X— was an apt setting for 22 leaders and their mentors to address key issues facing the service-learning movement, notably the need for greater diversity in its leadership.

Since their appointment in January 2007, these emerging leaders have worked locally, with host organizations, and nationally, as a network, to help shape the future of the service-learning movement:

• Developing culturally diverse leadership.
• Sharpening the skills and capacities of individual leaders and organizations.
• Cultivating culturally competent leaders and organizations.
• Nurturing stronger connections between service-learning and the broader social justice movement.

Living up to their reputation as "leaders," the group’s first act of business was re-writing the prepared agenda and reshaping the retreat itself. The participants identified key challenges and broke into groups to discuss ways they could best support each other in rising to those challenges.

As the retreat progressed, participants used NYLC’s MIAT: Missionary Ideology Assessment Tool, which helps practitioners evaluate their own service-learning practice and better partner with communities they serve. Jessica Bynoe spent time with the group discussing professional development plans and how to better align efforts in the field. The retreat also included a chance to plan “capstone projects,” collaborative projects designed to strengthen the service-learning movement.

The retreat even had its unsung heroes — the mentors. Each emerging leader has an experienced professional who helps them meet the program’s objectives and navigate their own professional goals. The mentors not only helped the emerging leaders, but also worked together to improve their capacity for nurturing the next generation of service-learning leadership.

True to the location, the Civil Rights Movement was an underlying theme throughout the retreat. "We shared a lot of personal experiences with and connections to the Civil Rights Movement," says NYLC Program Manager and Emerging Leader Bernard Gill. "This was a particularly enriching part of the retreat. It really helped us put our work in a bigger context."