About the Virginia Progressive Leadership Program

In Virginia, we are experiencing the severe effects of racial injustice, violent repression, and health inequities, all within a context of attacks on democracy. Social and progressive political movements have reached new levels of power and reach, yet there are still barriers to civic participation for those who have been historically excluded, erased, and imprisoned. The tide is shifting for a wave of progressive leadership to build a new Virginia in the shell of the old.

The Virginia Progressive Leadership Program (VAPLP) is a four-month experiential learning program for leaders who are Black, Indigenous, or part of the global majority and those with diverse lived experiences who aim to transform systems & culture to realize the Virginia we imagine.

Unlike holistic leadership development programs, VAPLP is focused by applying a lens of liberatory leadership to social movement strategy. By embracing the tension between the realities of Virginia as it is and the dreams of liberation embodied in the vision of Virginia as it should be, participants will learn practices & tools that move social change work forward.

our Model

LEARNING RETREATS

Through workshops and community-building sessions in a collective, small group setting, participants engage in four weekend-long retreats. The first learning retreat anchors us in an analysis of historical and present-day Virginia and vision-setting for the Virginia to come. The following three retreats chart how we get there, each with their own area of focus: community organizing, storytelling + narrative, and money + capital.

MENTORSHIP

Participants are individually paired with a mid- to senior-level mentor with shared lived and/or professional experience. Through the course of four mentor meetings, participants develop their goal/s and an action plan for next steps post-graduation. Both the participant and the mentor can choose to close or continue the relationship upon completion of the program.

WHO WE SERVE

Virginia Residency

VAPLP participants must all live in Virginia and have a commitment to building a more just Virginia. We understand the history of being the first colonized land in the US and the capital of the Confederacy. Carrying the torches of generations before us, we aim to better Virginia's future.

lived experience

VAPLP centers people who are part of communities most impacted by the issues we seek to address. This includes Black, Indigenous, and People of Color, women and trans/nonbinary folks, LGBQ+ folks, folks with disabilities, non-native English speakers, and anybody whose identity has not been traditionally invested in. While the program centers these people in particular, VAPLP serves emerging leaders across all identities who work towards racial & social justice.

social change work

In advancing racial justice and collective liberation, there are many avenues towards social change. VAPLP honors the wide array of social change work that people engage in - community organizing, political campaigns, policy work, healing, cultural art, scholar-activism, and many more. We invite folks anywhere within the ecosystem to join the program.

Testimonials

In my personal leadership, I think it has given me more confidence in what I do and I can pass it on to the people I work with. In this case, domestic workers… how we can impact how and when one receives training, how and when one begins to know more about the sector and the knowledge that one can have to be able to show our power individually but also what it’s like when you connect collectively with people and how you can cross these borders or lines of separation from one side to the other.

Antonia PeñaNational Domestic Workers Alliance

This is a top notch leadership development course, one that focuses not just on personal development, but how we make impacts in community. I think it's a very community-centered approach to how we do this work, always thinking about how we grow collectively, not individually. . . I found this to be a safe space, to really exchange ideas, discuss issues, discuss solutions.It was moldable as we came up with new questions and tried to take different approaches to the topics.

Avohom CarpenterEverybody Votes Campaign

I have become a much stronger organizer due to the leadership and mentorship from so many influential individuals who have paved the way for myself and others. I am more determined to give a great return on their investment in me by going out and being the change that needs to happen. Knowing I have a group of people behind me pushing, challenging, and motivating me to be better is completely invaluable.

Monica HutchinsonRise for Youth

VAPLP is the best training program I have ever attended. Not only the contents of the training, but also the people I met in the program. I already started to using the knowledge to organize some events in the community. I will continue to do so. The cohort 3 is a big family, we will help and support each other forever! [VAPLP has helped] me be a better person!

Becky WangSEIU VA 512

Within these life-changing last four months, I've gained so much knowledge around who I am, and especially in how to be able to influence and organize others. If [VAPLP] is something you're looking to do, listen. It is life changing. Because we are all doing various work across the state of Virginia, not only are you learning about others, but you are learning about yourself with them. So then as a leader, you get to grow and develop and introspect, because every month we’re given an opportunity to engage with others, to learn about new principles and concepts, to be invited into a whole other world that the average person wouldn’t be aware of. At the beginning, I didn’t know I was an organizer, but now, at the end, I know I can stand up and say that is who I am and what I’m supposed to be doing, and that’s the leadership I want.

Kelly EvansInstitute for Public Health Innovation