“The Destiny of Earthseed is to live and to thrive, to consider new questions, to explore the vastness of ourselves.” - Excerpt From Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler
The Sowers of Creative Leadership is an innovative personal and leadership development initiative offered exclusively to women of color and gender expansive people of color. The intention of the program is to provide essential spaces to consider new questions related to identity, healing, and leadership. These spaces will cultivate an expansive, supportive learning environment centered on inclusion, equity, and racial justice. Through both in-person and virtual experiences, participants will cultivate a sense of belonging and strengthen their self-awareness and leadership capacity while learning in collaboration with others.
Learning Sessions:
We strongly encourage attendance at Learning Sessions if you are interested in participating in the program and/or if you are interested in nominating someone for our 4th Sowers Cohort.
Selection Criteria:
Essential to apply:
Nomination from your current supervisor
Woman of color and/or gender-expansive person of color
5 years minimum in a staff position of leadership
Readiness to fully engage in an emergent, culturally based, leadership and personal development program
Commitment to 8 months of deep, internal personal and leadership work
Commitment to scheduled dates of engagement as listed in the application
Must have the support of a direct supervisor to participate in the initiative
Recommended to apply if any of the following are true:
Recently promoted to a leadership role
Preparing for more responsibility in a lead or hire staffing capacity in SEIU Local or IU department, division, or center
Fractal 1: Race, Ethnicity, & Culture– February 3- 7 In-Person*
Fractal 2: Radical Self-Care & Healing– April 28- May 2 In-person*
Fractal 3.1: Thriving & Collective Care Tuesday, June 24 Virtual
Fractal 3.2: Thriving & Collective Care- Tuesday, July 29 Virtual
Fractal 4: Transcending Systemic Racism- August 11- 15 In-person*
Fractal 4.2: Transcending Systemic Racism - September 9 Virtual
Fractal 5: Collaborative Networks- October 7 Virtual
Fractal 6: Racial Justice Leadership- October 27- 31 -In-person*
To apply for Sowers, you should be able to participate in all noted dates.
** SEIU subsidizes the cost of the training and meeting support; participants(Local/ IU Department) are responsible for lodging and transportation expenses.**
*InPerson Fractal Locations - TBD