The DeVos Urban Leadership Initiative is an intensive 15-month faith-based leadership development program for urban youth workers. Each year, approximately 60 urban youth workers from five select U.S. cities are accepted.
Effective leaders know how to use the positive potential of change, knowing that seemingly small actions can have significant impact. Participants are encouraged to seek out strategic opportunities to create healthy, sustainable change.
Throughout the program, participants are challenged to re-think their long-established ways of thinking and acting. Some key focal points of this are their understanding of ministry, leadership and community, each of which is examined in depth to reveal the complex interrelationships that must be understood in order to achieve maximum effectiveness. This brings insights into how seemingly small changes in a system can produce large—and often unintended—consequences, but also how one can put this principle to work proactively to bring about desired system level change.