Community Leadership Program Students

The INVST CLP is renowned at state, national and international levels as a model for innovatively training young leaders for productive action.  Throughout the two years, we equip students with a practical knowledge base. We combine complex theoretical understanding with a broad range of leadership skills. The comprehensive program teaches students how to transform problems into hopeful possibilities.  The developmental progression from micro to macro levels of analysis helps students to know how to work toward multiple levels of change.  Through first-hand experience, students are educated about what it takes to address key issues facing humanity and are empowered to lead competently.  In addition, students experience an intense sense of interconnection and an appreciation of the challenges and opportunities that working in community provides. One student explained,

 "I think the best thing that the INVST CLP has to offer is this idea that you can choose commitment, that you can choose to be a part of community...  One of the fundamental aspects of community is the choice, and I see that now.  It has nothing to do with interests that are similar, with likes that are similar, with living similar lives in similar geographical areas…  What makes the community is committing to be with people, regardless of anything that you may presuppose community should be.  That's the best experience that I had in the INVST CLP, because you choose that, and you have to choose it over and over and over again." 

Our students and graduates are our greatest source of pride. They are the means by which we measure our accomplishments.  INVST CLP alumni are involved in their communities as leaders in professional arenas including but not limited to:  art, business, community mediation, counseling, education, environmental and public policy, law, medicine, journalism and photo-journalism, politics, organic farming, social work, and veterinary medicine.  Two INVST CLP alumni received the distinguished Howard R. Swearer Student Humanitarian Award granted to only five students across the nation per year.  Another graduated as the youngest Chairperson of a Governor's Commission on National and Community Service in the country, and the youngest member of the Colorado House of Representatives is an INVST CLP graduate. 

INVST CLP alumni have pursued careers in service through AmeriCorps, Peace Corps, and VISTA.  They also have filled leadership roles in the public, private and independent sectors.  For example, INVST CLP alumni have worked in the following roles: Program Director, Women of Color Resource Center in Oakland; Journalist, Gannett News Service in Washington, DC; Founder, Art Reflections Healing Center in San Francisco; Attorney, Florida 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Miami; National Organizer, Medical Students for Choice in Berkeley; Executive Director, Project YES in Lafayette; Teacher, Ruamrudee International School in Thailand.  The INVST Community Leadership Program proudly acknowledges and celebrates all of our graduates in the RETURNS newsletters.

Students who complete the INVST Community Leadership Program receive a University of Colorado certificate in The Study and Practice of Leadership, which is the multidisciplinary equivalent of a minor.  In addition, students are eligible for AmeriCorps education awards of at least $1,000 each year.