WKKF Community Leadership Network (CLN) Grant

WKKF Community Leadership Network (CLN) Grant

Status: ACTIVE
Funder: W K Kellogg Foundation Trust T/A 5315
Last Updated: August 18, 2025

Summary

The W.K. Kellogg Foundation's Community Leadership Network (CLN) is an 18-month program aimed at empowering local leaders as agents of community-led change. Participants engage in hands-on development, professional coaching, and peer networking to foster collaboration and address systemic challenges. By joining a diverse network, they enhance their leadership skills, promote racial equity, and build sustainable relationships to create lasting impact for children and families in their communities.

Overview

About W.K Kellogg Foundation Established as an independent, private foundation in 1930, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF) continues to be guided by its founder’s intent – to support lasting change for all children and families in the places they live, learn, work and play. To accomplish this, the foundation connects and develops local leaders so they can authentically engage their communities in navigating today’s challenges and help to transform systems so they work for everyone. About Center for Creative Leadership The Center for Creative Leadership® (CCL) seeks to advance the understanding, practice and development of leadership for the benefit of society across the globe. A top ranking executive education firm worldwide, CCL brings more than 50 years of experience, research and best practice to connect the challenges leaders face with the essential skills they need to be successful. Since 1970, CCL has helped transform more than one million leaders and thousands of organizations in 160 countries. CCL manages the WKKF Community Leadership Network as a grantee of the Kellogg Foundation. WKKF Community Leadership Network (CLN) The WKKF Community Leadership Network equips local leaders to be effective agents of collective, community-led change. The 18-month program offers hands-on development, professional leadership coaching, peer networking and practical experience. Connect Unite with a diverse group locally and across the U.S. to learn from each other and foster lasting relationships. Build a powerful multicultural, multi-sector collaborative within your community to effect enduring change. Join a Global Fellows Network of 1,200+ that facilitates connection, collaborative learning and collective action. Grow Understand your leadership identity and emerge with greater self-awareness, personal mastery and effectiveness in leading others. Gain skills for engaging varied voices, navigating differences and bringing people together around solutions. Learn essential ways to advance racial equity, racial healing and collective leadership in communities. Lead Get fully equipped to lead transformational change that benefits children, families and communities. Integrate self-care practices that generate compassion for yourself and others and that build resilient leadership. Put new knowledge and skills into action through class and cohort activities and in your day-to-day work.

Eligibility

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Application Details

ARE YOU READY
TO CHART A
BETTER FUTURE
FOR CHILDREN?

TAKE THE NEXT STEP IN YOUR
LEADERSHIP JOURNEY
Designed for local leaders to connect, grow and lead transformational change, the
W.K. Kellogg Foundation Community Leadership Network with the Center for Creative
Leadership® fellowship program will expand a network of leaders working to build a society
where health and well-being are possible for all children, families and communities.
Now is a critical moment for collaborative leadership and action that unites people who
care about children and builds expansive coalitions, even among unlikely allies. The W.K.
Kellogg Foundation (WKKF) Community Leadership Network with the Center for Creative
Leadership® is an innovative fellowship that connects and equips local leaders to be
effective agents of collective, community-led change. Join this next class of 80 fellows from
the Kellogg Foundation’s priority places of Michigan, Mississippi, New Mexico and New
Orleans, as well as Tribal nations and local communities across the U.S.
"For me, the fellowship has been full of such great lessons of
self-mastery. It has given me the tools and the confidence to
be able to do a lot of internal work. To feel more confident, to
be able to be in spaces that are not necessarily comfortable,
and to be comfortable seeking out differences.”
–Class Three Fellow, Michigan Cohort

AN IMMERSIVE LEARNING EXPERIENCE
Through a variety of activities and experiences, this 18-month program
provides fellows with the tools to connect, grow and lead transformational
change towards a society where all children, families and communities thrive.
CONNECT
■ Unite with a broad coalition of leaders locally and from across the
U.S. and Tribal communities to learn from each other and foster
lasting relationships.
■ Build a powerful multicultural, multi-sector collaborative within your
community to create enduring change.
■ Join a Global Fellows Network of 1,200+ that facilitates ongoing
connection, collaborative learning and collective action.
GROW
■ Understand your leadership identity and emerge with greater
self-awareness, personal mastery and effectiveness leading and
collaborating with others.
■ Gain skills for engaging varied voices, navigating differences and
bringing people together around solutions.
■ Learn essential ways to advance systems change work and leadership
in communities.
LEAD
■ Get fully equipped to lead collaborative, transformational change
that benefits children, families and communities.
■ Integrate self-care practices that generate compassion for yourself
and others and that build resilient leadership.
■ Put new knowledge and skills into action through class and cohort
activities and in your day-to-day work.

A DYNAMIC PROGRAM FOR TODAY’S LEADERS
The fellowship prepares leaders to rise to the challenges of the time by
offering hands-on leadership development, professional leadership coaching,
peer networking and practical experience.
All-Class Sessions
During the 18-month fellowship, all fellows come together for six in-person,
multiple-day gatherings, plus three virtual sessions. In these all-class sessions,
fellows learn from inspirational speakers and meet in large and small groups,
as well as one-on-one with their coaches to deepen understanding of
racial equity and racial healing, developing local leaders and engaging the
community in solving their own problems.
Assessment and Self-awareness
From leadership assessments and conversations with their coaches, fellows
learn how they’re showing up and ways to tap into their strengths. Reflection
and journaling throughout the fellowship also guide fellows’ self-awareness as
they become more compassionate and effective leaders.
Professional Leadership Coaching and Community-based Support
A series of one-on-one individualized sessions with a Center for Creative
Leadership professional leadership coach that guides fellows in bringing class
material to life on their leadership journey. Fellows also benefit from having
a CCL team coach for their place-based or U.S. national cohort, as well as
meeting with WKKF staff and alumni from other fellowship classes.
Community Networking
Fellows also participate in a place-based or U.S. national cohort, where they
go deeper on issues specific to their communities and practice applying
the WKKF’s community engagement framework of cooperative planning,
intelligent study and group action. Cohorts collaborate to tell the story of
their communities and the children who live, go to school and play there,
culminating in a group presentation to the class. We will have cohorts from
WKKF’s priority places - Mississippi, Michigan, New Mexico, and New Orleans -
as well as have a U.S. national cohort comprised of leaders from communities
across the country.

“The fellowship really opened me up to understanding that
it’s not just about serving our local population, but about
championing racial equity and changing systems in place.”
—Class One Fellow
“Working alongside these wonderful leaders has made me
realize that I am worthy and that I must utilize these gifts to
make the changes that we all want to see in community.”
—Class Two Fellow, Michigan Cohort

BECOME PART OF A
POWERFUL NETWORK
From the W.K. Kellogg Foundation’s
earliest days, our founder Will Keith
Kellogg articulated a formula for enduring
change that includes investing in local
leaders and authentic engagement of
community. The WKKF Community
Leadership Network is the manifestation
of Mr. Kellogg's vision, along with the
W.K. Kellogg Foundation's Global Fellows
Network. Once a fellow completes
the Community Leadership Network
program they become part of this global
network, spanning 44 countries with 1,200
leaders from WKKF's 17 legacy signature
fellowship programs. The Global Fellows
Network serves to support ongoing
connection, collaborative learning and
collective action.
“The fellowship has given us an opportunity to
come together as leaders and have a space for one
another. And also to think through what we are
trying to accomplish for our children and how we
do that together, as opposed to in siloes.”
—Class Two Fellow, New Mexico Cohort
“This program has given me the confidence that I am a leader,
that I can be a leader in my community, and also given me
the confidence to show what leadership is to others, so I can
bring them into the process.”
—Class Two Fellow, New Orleans Cohort

SEEKING LOCAL LEADERS TO APPLY TODAY
We’re currently recruiting for class four of the WKKF Community Leadership
Network program, which will run from January 2026 through June 2027.
Applications will be accepted Aug. 5 - 28, 2025 via our online portal.
You may be a great fit for this program if you are:
■ Passionate about bringing the best of yourself to create equitable conditions for
children, families and communities.
■ Invested locally in your community or within the broader national ecosystem of
children- and family-serving fields, with a desire to connect with others in your
city, state and beyond to work collectively for greater impact.
■ Reflective of the diverse communities in your city and/or state, across age,
gender, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, culture, physical ability and other
intersecting identities.
■ Intentional about deepening your understanding of racial equity and
racial healing, community engagement and collective leadership to drive
transformational change in communities.
■ Engaged in one or more of the following disciplines: academia, business, faith,
government, nonprofit, philanthropy or other sectors impacting children,
families and communities.
■ Experienced in early childhood education, health, food systems, workforce
development, family economic security, or other fields that advance children's
well-being.
■ Residing in one of WKKF’s priority places in the U.S., including Michigan,
Mississippi, New Mexico or New Orleans. We will also have a U.S. national
cohort comprised of leaders from communities across the country. We’re also
interested in supporting leaders in Tribal and rural communities. Note: For this
class, only applicants residing in the contiguous United States (“Lower 48”) or
bordering Tribal nations are eligible. Applicants from Alaska, Hawaii and other
U.S. territories are not eligible.
■ Eager to join the WKKF Global Fellows Network of 1,200+ for ongoing
connection, collaborative learning and collective action.
■ Have basic knowledge of and access to a computer with Office systems, email
and internet.

APPLICATION STEPS
1. Exploration 2. Application 3. Interview 4. Offer
Discover if this Complete and submit Engage in an Successful
program is the an online application, interview. candidates
right fit for you. including responses to will receive an
Learn more at the essay questions, an offer letter.
wkkfcln.org. updated resume, a short
video, and two letters of
recommendation.
KEY DATES
Online application period for class four of the WKKF
AUG. 5 - AUG. 28, 2025
Community Leadership Network fellowship.
Application reviews, interviews and selection of class four of
SEPT. 9 – NOV. 7, 2025
the WKKF Community Leadership Network fellowship.
Announcement of class four of the WKKF Community
DEC. 2025
Leadership Network fellowship.
Fellowship program commitment for class four of the
JAN. 2026 - JUNE 2027
WKKF Community Leadership Network fellowship.
CONTACT
Janet Jenkins, Center for Creative Leadership
WKKFCLN@ccl.org
www.wkkfcln.org
www.wkkfcln.org
Center for Creative Leadership® and CCL® are registered trademarks
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