August 28, 2025
CDCLP Orientation

The initial CDCLP session introduces participants to the program, the current state of the Cleveland CDC industry, and what they will experience over the next year. Participants will clearly understand the purpose of the CDCLP, why they were selected, what is expected of them, and how success is defined throughout the program and after they graduate. Participants will also meet their coaches and participate in facilitated discussions to begin building camaraderie among the group.

September 11, 2025
Leading CDCs: Management vs. Leadership & Self-Care as a Leadership Strategy

This session draws the important distinction between leadership and management and focuses on enlightening participants on the broad range of productive leadership skills necessary for organizational success. Participants will learn how to assess and improve their own leadership styles and the variables that make for a high performing CDC leader, from developing more impactful emotional intelligence, to improving communication, to cultivating a leadership culture and more.

October 2, 2025
Who You Are... Is How You Lead 

This session will cover the six core mindsets a leader should possess and how the six mindsets can be used to maintain and achieve vision. Participants will strengthen their abilities to think strategically about their vision and how to keep themselves and others energized about their work at their CDC.

October 16, 2025
Group Processes and Development

This session will provide a deeper understanding of leadership by exploring the relationship of the leader to the group. It will define a team’s stages of development and how to attract, lead and develop followers while building consensus in a team setting. This session features an experiential learning component.

October 30, 2025
Leading with an Equity Lens/Creating an Equitable Community

This session addresses the need to engage and involve the community through quality, equitable organizing in all aspects of a CDC’s work, learning the best approaches to connect with neighborhood leaders through direct and consistent dialogue. This session will also seek to help CDC leaders in defining an equitable community approach, understanding key community engagement challenges, and developing relationship building skills for effective community engagement.

November 20, 2025
Creating the Best CDC Team

The best organizations operate as teams. CDCs are engaged in various activities with lean staff and limited resources. A major organizational force occurs when a team-oriented atmosphere is present, where individuals are engaged, committed, and selflessly working together as a team. This session will teach participants how CDC Directors can create their own neighborhood-based team that consistently produces effective and excellent work, enhancing their skills in building and maintaining a thriving team.

December 11, 2025
Raising Funds for Your CDC - Preparation, Sources, and Post-Grant Relationships

This session will provide participants details about the different methods for diversifying revenues and how to build and sustain philanthropic relationships through a strong fundraising structure, from researching and prospecting donors, to making an ask for financial assistance, to completing compelling requests, to consistently and transparently reporting grant results.

January 15, 2026
Organizational & Strategic Planning

This session highlights the importance and process for developing a vision, creating a strategic plan, and implementing an action plan with clear metrics and measurable outcomes. Participants will learn about best practices in these areas, how to engage and manage consultants to facilitate these processes, and strategies for collaborating with other organizations to achieve strategic success.

January 29, 2026
Governing CDCs: Building Better Boards

This session defines the function, role, and responsibilities of board members and highlights best practices, including regularly reviewing and updating a CDC’s code of regulations, composition, terms, committee structures, etc. Participants will understand the lines of responsibility and authority between board and staff members and how critical it is to develop collaborative and productive relationships with board leaders. This session will also address the recruitment of high performing board members, the need for annual executive director evaluations, and how to best engage board members in meetings.

February 12, 2026
Real Estate Planning and Development

This session will assist CDC leaders in understanding how to create a nexus between a CDC’s vision and the aspirations of neighborhood residents, businesses and institutions. Participants will learn about the real estate development process, economic development and different models in the CDC industry, including financing, property inventory, site control, property management, and more.

March 5, 2026
Managing the Finances of a CDC

This session will provide participants the necessary knowledge of nonprofit finance, from creating annual budgets, to managing revenues and expenses, to developing quarterly financial statements, to managing audits and more. Additionally, a deeper dive into CDBG funding will give participants the required information on its rules, regulations, and reporting requirements.

March 26, 2026
Communicating Through a Crisis & Leading with a Trauma Informed Lens 

This session will outline how to build trust in the community for the organization by delivering results for the constituents, how to communicate about progress and how to advocate for change in the community. Participants will learn how to communicate through and manage a crisis situation and will also learn about trauma that can exist in their neighborhoods.

April 16, 2026
HR – The Secret Leadership Tool

An organization’s success is largely influenced by its team; those people who work for the CDC. Leaders will explore how to make good hiring decisions, how to be better equipped to tackle Human Resources issues, and how to capitalize on the secret leadership tool of quality HR.

May 7, 2026
Rallying Your Neighborhood for Change

This session helps to define a strategic community engagement approach centered on engaging your neighborhood to create sustainable change. It will provide participants with an understanding of how to assess and improve their community engagement capacity while identifying the key challenges they might face in their community work and how to overcome these obstacles.

May 28, 2026
Sustaining the Community Movement & CDCLP Graduation

This session will address sustaining the learning of the program and its potential impact at the neighborhood level and Cleveland as a whole. The session will highlight the 35 years of engaged development and impact CDCs have in our communities and what is required for a CDC to provide sustainable, successful service to residents and the community. In Cleveland, some CDCs are renown for their ongoing success and others have a few good years followed by a few tough years. Participants will learn from successful, legacy CDC leaders about what it takes to maintain momentum and progress while setting the organization up to be sustainable for years to come.

The session will also outline the ongoing support for graduates and opportunities for future learning and engagement.