What does this certification mean?

Graduates of the Homegrown Leaders program have completed a rigorous curriculum that localizes their community insights and builds off their personal leadership style to connect them to their next professional step.  Participants apply with an intention of living and working within the greater Pasadena area in the next 5 years.  Intended to support future community leaders from post-graduation into the workforce, the course work emphasizes strength-based skill finding for each participant to leverage in their professional development. It also uses local community leaders and organizations as partners in learning to teach about the historical context and current challenges which shape key industries and trends.  A collaborative, discussion-based, small group environment fosters peer learning from across many lived experiences and backgrounds.

Program Components

Strength-Based Personal Leadership

Using Gallup's Strengthsfinder 2.0 for youth as a base, participants learn their top 5 themes and apply them to situational learning with a certified Leadership Coach.  Peer-learning highlights leadership diversity. Strengths are then connected to professional development goals in a 1-on-1 mentor hour with a community member.

Critical Thinking | Community Needs

Small-group roundtable discussions on complex issues which affect community members in different ways are facilitated by experts in the topic areas. Data sets and multiple perspective media are provided to discuss the full implication of policies, approaches, and decisions — share outs from each group follow.

Key Community Sector Immersion

Pre-session content preps participants to learn from guest speakers within the industries and sectors driving Pasadena economics and culture. Historical content and current trends are covered, to develop layers of understanding so participants can engage in critical conversations across various areas of civic & economic development.

Sample Session

Our inaugural Homegrown Leaders class was run online due to COVID-19. Recruitment focused on 17-19 year-old students and youth who are intending to continue their education or start their professional journey in Pasadena. Enrollment was limited to 20 participants to ensure personalized attention and relationship-building.

To connect to existing local youth development programs, we targeted:

To graduate, attendance at three 5-hour Zoom sessions and a mentor session was required.

Questions about individual participants or program details can be directed to Info@leadershippasadena.org.