American Leadership Forum
Charlotte Region Chapter
ALF strengthens Fellows’ and Senior Fellows’ capacity to address public issues collaboratively and builds a strong leadership network to work for positive change in the communities we serve.
Founded in 1980
American Leadership Forum (ALF) was founded in 1980 in Houston, Texas by Joseph Jaworski, who left his successful law practice to address what he increasingly saw as a crisis of leadership throughout the country. He envisioned an organization dedicated to bringing together diverse leaders from multiple sectors in communities across the country to deeply explore their personal leadership capacity, build deep trust among the group to help each leader to get beyond the devaluing prejudices that we all hold and to learn how diverse people can coalesce around issues and discover new possibilities.
The ALF Charlotte Region Chapter was established in 1999
In 1999, Lee Institute, a nonprofit partner helping public, grassroots and other nonprofit organizations dream big, operate strategically and accomplish worthy goal, launched ALF Charlotte Region Chapter. Since then, more than 450 leaders from our 13-county region have graduated from the program.
Bringing together established leaders
ALF brings together established leaders—from private, nonprofit and public sectors— to sharpen their collaborative leadership skills. Throughout a year-long framework, participants engage in thoughtfully designed skills building workshops, spirited dialogue and a relationship-building wilderness experience. Remarkable things happen by year-end. Relationships are formed. Those on the margin are brought into the center. Leadership capabilities are enhanced and new networks for creating positive changes are created.
Senior Fellows
Graduates of the program—Senior Fellows—join a cadre of more than 4,500 Senior Fellows across the nation who are all committed to working together for the common good. ALF’s impact on the community springs from this engaged, vibrant, evolving and active network of leaders who, through the course of their life and work, inspire their colleagues to community action.
“ALF was a tremendous blessing to me, particularly in self-reflection and an opportunity to connect with others in the community in a significant, immersive way. In the ALF experience, I began to embrace being more vulnerable as a strength, not a weakness.”
Tim Cascio
Chief Marketing Officer, Holy Angels
Class XXI
Resources:
The Leon Levine Foundation
ALF—and Lee Institute’s other leadership development initiatives—are supported in part through the generosity of:
The Leon Levine Foundation
Center for Advancing Leadership
at Lee Institute