Frequently Asked Questions
Everything you need to know about the program.
What is Civic Leaders? Why are you doing this?
Civic Leaders envisions a future where those at the vanguard of improving our communities are sufficiently resourced, experience deep camaraderie, and operate at their highest potential. In short, we want these leaders to be invested in as much as they invest in their missions. To actualize this, we've created this tech-enabled fellowship and digital community to join together leaders across the country.
As folks who have been "doing the work" in city halls, at late-night community meetings, and, while supporting our peers and managing up to mayors, chiefs of staff, and executives. We know both the fulfillment and the isolation of navigating these spaces.
We created Civic Leaders, because we needed Civic Leaders.
Why is Civic Leaders different from other "professional development" opportunities?
Traditional professional development opportunities are typically structured like this:
1. Lecture-style, focused on passively receiving knowledge from an expert
2. Transactional, once the training or experience is over, the relationship ends
3. Deficit-based, promote up-skilling or improvements devoid of your unique context
Civic Leaders invites the fullness of your experience bridging the personal and the professional, and recognizing that for the mission-driven, these lines quickly become blurred.
1. Highly engaged, facilitated conversations, discussion boards, and live convos create dynamic peer-learning opportunities.
2. By design, the cohort experience if just the beginning of being a Civic Leader. Once you complete the cohort, you become a Fellow for life with your fellow Civic Leaders in your corner.
3. We recognize and value the leadership, experience, and expertise you bring to this community. As such, we're strong believers of peer learning and that we all can learn from (and teach) each other.
How does the online community work?
The Civic Leader platform is built on Circle's tech platform. We've customized this platform to have robust discussion boards, fellowship directory with profiles, curated resources, and more. The platform also serves as the one-stop shop for the cohort experience with ease of access to calendars, video links for live sessions, and reviewing content from our live sessions. We're excited for you to see it!
I'm interested in applying, where can I do so?
The Civic Leader platform is built on Circle's tech platform. We've customized this platform to have robust discussion boards, fellowship directory with profiles, curated resources, and more. The platform also serves as the one-stop shop for the cohort experience with ease of access to calendars, video links for live sessions, and reviewing content from our live sessions. We're excited for you to see it!
When does the next cohort start?
The next Civic Leaders cohort begins in November 2026!