Leadership for a Changing World is a program of the Ford Foundation in partnership with the Institute for Sustainable Communities and the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, New York University.

Ford Foundation

The Ford Foundation, established in 1936, is a private, nonprofit institution that serves as a resource for innovative people and institutions worldwide. Its goals are to strengthen democratic values, reduce poverty and injustice, promote international cooperation, and advance human achievement. A national and international philanthropy with assets of more than $14 billion, the Foundation has provided more than $10 billion in grants and loans worldwide. The Ford Foundation maintains headquarters in New York, offices in countries in Africa and the Middle East, Asia, Latin America, and an office in Russia.

Institute for Sustainable Communities

The Institute for Sustainable Communities assumed management of the Leadership for A Changing World program in October 2006 when the Advocacy Institute, which had administered the program since 2000, transferred its operations to ISC. Through leadership development, advocacy training and citizen engagement, ISC helps communities in existing and emerging democracies build a better future. ISC gives citizens, and the organizations that support them, the tools, skills and confidence they need to improve lives and create a more peaceful, stable world. Based in Vermont and with offices in Washington, DC, Macedonia, Serbia and Ukraine, ISC has carried out more than 60 projects in 20 countries, including the United States.

Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service
at New York University

The Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service at New York University has been educating the future leaders of public, nonprofit, and health institutions, as well as private organizations serving the public sector, since 1938. As a school of public service, it works to transform personal commitment to public leadership. It is the largest school of public service in the country, recruits nationally, has a diverse student body, and is committed to preparing people who can translate ideas into action.

The Wagner School has identified leadership for public service as central to the dean’s and the school’s vision for itself. The school describes its commitment to leadership in the following terms:

The importance of individual and organizational leadership development, performance and accountability for public service is central to our core purpose at Wagner, and cuts across all programs and specializations. Leadership programs are tailored to the needs of individuals and emphasize action learning. The Wagner approach to leadership development recognizes that strong leadership has a direct impact on the bottom line of organizations in all sectors. Our approach is interactive and experiential, working with new ideas and frameworks but also with the difficult task of learning to adapt and perform new behaviors. It focuses on personal as well as professional development because it appreciates that leaders need to be prepared to change if they want to lead change.