A Team of Heavy Hitters: Examining a Restorative Collective Leadership Model

• In Event: Toward Equity in Learning Communities: Innovative Characteristics of Youth Work Practice

Abstract

Aims: This study examines the collective leadership practices of Future Black Leaders (FBL). Setting: FBL is a predominately Black run expanded learning organization providing restorative justice programs and community organizing campaigns to address issues effecting Black folxs. Methodology: Data sources for this critical ethnography include: 13 interviews, over 60 hours of participant-observer observations, and numerous key documents. Findings and Implications: Rather than utilize a hierarchy-based leadership structure FBL utilizes a model of restorative collective leadership exemplified by Black folxs both within and outside the organization having a chance to share: expertise, decision making, and outcomes. FBL’s intentional commitment to mitigating the impacts of hierarchy allows Blackness to be centered both in the process and outcome of Black focused change efforts.

Author

• Ishmael Miller, Arizona State University