Program Details

At Civic Leadership Academy, we invest heavily in our members and expect them, in turn, to invest in their own learning. To that end, you must agree to attend all of the sessions and field trips, and to arrive on time and prepared. Additionally, members sign a media waiver so that we can share all the good stuff we’re doing with the world.

You need 5-10 hours a week to devote to the 9-month learning program. Some weeks, that is time on your own, reading and preparing for group sessions. But often, that time is with the group. It’s important for you to have a flexible daytime schedule in order to attend board meetings and school/government tours. After the learning program, the time commitment will vary depending on what you choose to pursue.

There are lots of great organizations that can help you campaign, but Civic Leadership Academy is not one of them. Civic Leadership Academy is not involved in political activity. Once you decide you want to run for something, you will connect with organizations that specialize in campaign work.

Civic Leadership Academy is currently working in the City of Allentown. It is powered by School Board School, a learning program based in Cincinnati, OH. If you are interested in bringing School Board School to your community, please get in touch. They’d love to talk!

Civic Leadership Academy is non-partisan, but members must align with the vision and values of the Vital Conditions Framework, which delineate “the properties of places and institutions that we all need all the time to reach our full potential”. By endorsing this framework, you are working in concert with the people in our network, and we can move toward better outcomes for Allentown faster.

During our learning program, we provide a robust curriculum that includes opportunities to engage with content-area experts and current and former elected officials, access to relevant research and materials, and field trip experiences. However, we also expect you to be actively involved in your learning by coming prepared, asking good questions, and engaging in meaningful conversations.

Additionally, every session incorporates points of reflection, where members must consider and articulate their values, how those values and their skills & experiences intersect with the work that needs to be done in local systems, and make connections between the decisions they will make as elected officials or advocates and the impact of those decisions on our community. This is difficult and sometimes uncomfortable work, but we expect members to engage in it in order to better serve our community.

We also expect members to prioritize camaraderie over competition because we know you can’t do this work successfully if you’re working alone. By building camaraderie within the group, members support each other on the campaign trail, in the office, and as community advocates serving the City.

Finally, joining Civic Leadership Academy is a long-term commitment. During the learning program, we help provide you with the tools needed to make change, but the real work happens after the learning program when you join in the work of the larger coalition and support each other in your individual goals & in collective actions to build more just and equitable systems.