​HOPE’s resident engagement is a key element of our work, differentiating our collaborative from other policy advocacy efforts. Resident leaders offer on-going feedback and accountability for HOPE’s policy and systems change work. HOPE offers residents opportunities for growth and leadership as part of a larger community capacity-building effort that seeks to influence and shift the power map of Oakland’s policy-making process.

HOPE’s Project Leader process aims to be a vehicle for residents to build their capacity to take leadership in the collaborative, in their communities, and in the broader policy-making arena. Additionally, this process is grounded in the vision that leadership development and capacity-building will create the necessary conditions for increased economic and civic community ownership.

Additional objectives are to:

• Sustain the development and leadership of existing community leaders of HOPE.
• Recruit new participants to expand the group of existing Community Leaders.
• Train all members as Project Leaders who carry out HOPE’s mission and vision.
• Support complete projects planned, executed and evaluated by Project  Leaders.
• Build leadership of Project Leaders through work at HOPE and other organizational partners.
• Define opportunities for continued community leadership.