Organizing Communities, Shaping Policy, and Developing Leaders

What we do

Coalition Building and Community Organizing

A successful movement incorporates itself into the broader community fabric by building and supporting a network of relationships and allies.

Coalescence, though, doesn’t happen organically. It will only occur if it is properly organized and put into action. Public action is a must. The organization and its leaders cannot be the proverbial tree falling in the forest, but rather an active and engaged actor that leads a movement that challenges the new harmful status quo.

Policy Development

Policy ideas can only be effective insofar as there is a constituency behind them. This requires taking policy discussions out of conference rooms and into communities.

Community engagement cannot be a once-in-a-while activity. It must be consistent in order to build an agenda that is grounded and relevant to real people, not ideology.

Ideas and policy development are not the core of the problem. Rather, the failure to take ideas deeply rooted in our communities and develop a “common sense” agenda around them—ideas for building strong families, safe neighborhoods and economic opportunities—has been why our political leaders seem so unmotivated and merely satisfied with the status quo.

Leadership Development and Action Advocacy

Developing a long-term presence and operating as a consistent force for good requires that in addition to issue development and community engagement, The Urban Center must produce a bench of talent able to directly support and advance a community agenda.

The organization will not be shy in its mission to develop centrist leaders, spokespersons and candidates for public leadership roles. Core to leadership development is having the ability to provide potential leaders with a solid foundation and education on the nuances of the world of power.

The organization provides training opportunities for its future leaders on the inner workings of “the arena” and offer a unique insight on how issues get addressed within real-world political constraints. As recruits come to understand the concepts and dynamics of public leadership, they are pressed into civic action around issues that matter to them and to the community.

Build Power; Impact Government and Policy

Of course, the work of The Urban Center will be for naught if the interests of a centrist community are not reflected in the agendas of elected officials and in government policy.

Ultimately, the work of The Urban Center of leadership capacity building and grassroots strategies and tactics must give rise to centrist representation across the City of Chicago and the State of Illinois.

Developing Leaders thru MLI Next Gen

The Metropolitan Leadership Institute: Next Generation (MLI Next Gen) serves for purposes of identifying and educating future civic, business, and political leaders. It has a successful track record of doing so.

The MLI Next Gen experience is a 10-month leadership training program designed as a primer to familiarize participants with key leadership concepts of the power arena and develop a common language for civic action. The MLI Next Gen engages a cohort of individuals who seek public leadership roles in the political, government, corporate and non-profit worlds.

They become participants in an intense training program that includes candid dialogue, challenging debate, and an analysis of the public arena. These sessions are not a “how-to-be-a-leader” training, but rather, an opportunity for participants to reflect and take an introspective look at one’s instincts in the public power arena. All MLI Next Gen sessions are off-the-record and closed to the media.

To learn more about MLI Next Gen, to apply or donate: