Building Capacity, Growing Leaders: Spokane Hosts 2-Day Foundations Training

Spokane recently held a successful two-day Foundations of Community Organizing Training, bringing together 25 leaders from across our member institutions for an energising and deeply practical learning experience.

This training marked an important milestone for our alliance: the entire training team was made up of lay leaders — a clear sign of our growing internal capacity and the strength of leadership development within our organisations. Our training team included Luis Manriquez, Jillian Hull, Mitch Murphy, and Laurel Fish.

For the first time, Jillian and Mitch taught major sections of the curriculum and also served as small group leaders, demonstrating the depth of talent emerging across our network.

An incredible group of people joined us from a wide range of institutions, including Morning Star Baptist Church, Westminster United Church of Christ, Congregation Emanu-El, Salem Lutheran Church, the Episcopal Diocese of Spokane, Ironworkers Local #14, Spokane Education Association, and the West Central Development Project. Their engagement, curiosity, and commitment to building relational power made for a rich two days of training.

Together, we explored the foundations of broad-based community organising — including relational meetings, power analysis, storytelling, and developing leaders — all with an eye toward strengthening our collective capacity to act for the common good.

This training is another step forward as we continue developing leaders who can build strong institutions and take effective action on the issues most important to our communities.

We look forward to continuing this work, growing our leadership corps, and building a more just, connected, and powerful civic life across the region.

To find out more about Spokane Alliance, visit their website: https://www.spokanealliance.org/