Transformational Leadership Summit Participants Create a New Vision For Bedford-Stuyvesant

Earlier this summer, I attended the Transformational Leadership Summit which was sponsored by the Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation and the Food Town Management.

Also in attendance was a diverse group of Bedford-Stuyvesant residents; block association presidents, elected official and their representatives, artists, musicians, business owners, community board members, social service and health care practitioners and representatives from local non-profits.  

Before attending the seminar I was uncertain as to what the training would entail. I expected the Summit to be similar to many of the corporate leadership training I had attended in the past, most of which centered on determining an individual’s leadership style and how to adapt that style to gain consensus and motivate staff to achieve the corporate agenda.

Well, I was in for a big surprise. Yes, the seminar was about the individual, but not in a way I expected. We did not explore our leadership styles, instead we had and open conversation our individual and collective beliefs that cause us not to take action and those that propelled us to action.

We talked about being an agent for change instead of being a bystander who talks about the problem – never taking action to fix it.

On the last day of the Summit, we used the lessons learned to envision and develop new ideas on how to bring change and new opportunities to Bedford-Stuyvesant. We divided into seven groups, with each group creating a vision and actionable goals to bring about change in the areas of Safety, Business Development, Education, Health, Job Creation, Housing, and Arts Programming

On September 19th, we met again, and with coaching from Herma Schmitz, began the process of creating concrete project plans to help us achieve our goals. The groups reviewed their goals, set milestones and created action plans for the next three months.

Over the next three months, Herma Schmitz will continue to coach the groups, meeting with them once a month. In addition to the monthly meetings with Ms. Schmitz, the groups will be engaging community members and organizations with the goal of forming partnerships and expanding the reach and capacity of each group.

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