With the arrival of fall here in Philadelphia comes a feeling of change. We’ve returned to our offices on-campus, and are feeling the impacts of students returning to campus. It’s energizing, inspiring, and at times overwhelming! Wherever you are as you read this, we trust that you may be feeling elements of your own transitions, too.
We’ve been hard at work at CSIS. We recently graduated the latest cohort of the Executive Program in Social Impact Strategy, and are stewarding a number of exciting new collaborations on campus and abroad. In this note you can expect to find the latest news on CSIS programs, events, and team. A more detailed summary of our wrap-up of our 2021 Executive Program in Social Impact Strategy, and Alumni Summit are here and staff transitions here.
As always, we’d love to hear from you. Drop us a line to let us know what you’re up to, what you’d like to see from us this year, and what’s inspiring you these days.
Read on for the latest!
Executive Programs
-
Certificate in Social Impact Strategy
is entering its 7th year (here), with application deadline October 17, 2021. We have had incredibly strong and large classes, and are excited to offer for the first time a special cohort for those who work at the intersection of Faith & Social Impact (here). That program is a version of Social Impact Strategy, particularly for a cohort of folks working across faith and difference
-
Certificate in Digital Media for Social Impact
is entirely new!! Developed (here) in collaboration with Penn’s Annenberg School for Communication. Program Manager Rosie Clark-Parsons has been building this program from scratch, and we are looking forward to a rigorous, engaging program featuring leading critical scholarship in communication with a hands-on, action-oriented curriculum. Application deadline November 8, 2021.
-
Master of Science in Nonprofit Leadership
our sister program, (here), is also accepting applications, deadline December 15, 2021. You may know that Graduates of many of our Executive Programs are eligible to complete an accelerated version of the master’s online or on-campus and use your program to count as three or four credit units towards the degree. Whether or not you are an alum of one of our executive programs, all are welcome to apply. Check out more about the accelerated partnership, attend an info session, or schedule a meeting with an advisor.
-
Social Innovation Design
a collaboration with Penn’s Weitzman School of Design, is now in its third year (here), and our inspiring 2021-2022 class are currently working on their Design Thinking for Social Innovation and Self & Society classes.
Did you know we have a Youth Program!?
We’ve been hard at work dreaming up new ways to engage high school students in social impact.
In the summer of 2020, we collaborated with AFS Intercultural Programs to launch an interactive, fully online curriculum for high school learners worldwide. In the first year, hundreds of students enrolled, some during study abroad experiences, and some from their permanent place of residence. The Global You Changemakers program offers 12 weeks of intensive curriculum, culminating in a capstone presentation focused on the student’s social innovation idea, prototype, and public narrative. We’ve been incredibly impressed by the quality and ingenuity of students’ work. In a banner year, 171 students completed the Advanced certificate program. Hats off to the development team: Reva Raghupathi, Allison Russell, Anna Dausman, and Rosie Clark-Parsons, as well as our friends at AFS.
This past summer, CSIS piloted our own local in-house youth program: a summer Youth Social Impact Institute (YSIP) for Philadelphia-area high school students. Over 7 weeks we worked with a small and mighty group of bright, passionately engaged students to define their interests, observe their communities, and prototype an idea for social impact. We’re so proud of all that they invested in their learning, and their inspiring ideas for change!
CSIS Program Manager Anna Dausman has been leading the cultivation of our youth programs, with incredibly important contributions from Reva Raghupathi and Vaughn Sayers.
Virtual Gatherings: A Round-up
You may have caught a few of our virtual gatherings earlier this summer — online workshops intended to introduce new tools or ways of thinking, with opportunities to connect with likeminded community members. Deftly organized and facilitated by Anna Dausman and Kaveh Sadeghian, the summer series helped us recenter and reflect on how we show up in the world. Browse the summaries below, and check out the recordings for any gatherings you missed or would like to revisit:
-
Real Talk: Navigating Rest and Reentry in Times of Transition
In this workshop, we asked participants to conduct a ‘wellness audit’ and set an intention for routines and priorities in the days ahead. The framework we shared is for anyone with questions about what life will look like as the pandemic moves ahead, as well as for anyone going through a life transition more broadly. Watch the recording.
-
Finding Your Facilitation Flow: Techniques to Ease Connection
Faced with increasingly complex problems, teams today rely on connection and collaboration to find acceptable solutions. Effective facilitation has become a necessary skill and practice towards this end. Drawing on a decade of experience, CSIS facilitators Anna Dausman and Kaveh Sadeghian presented some of their own beliefs and practices around facilitation and convening. Watch the recording.
-
Kindly Critical: A New Approach to Motivating Yourself and Others
This workshop presented the latest research on self-compassion, as well as reference a series of related behavioral change approaches that build off self-monitoring, self-assessment, and self-kindness principles. Attendees left this workshop with a preliminary understanding of the potential impact and limitations of self-compassion focused interventions, a series of tangible exercises that can be applied to either one’s self or -teams, and a greater sense of confidence in implementing these practices in our day-to-day lives. Watch the recording.
-
Persuasive Communication: Telling Stories of Personal Purpose and Impact
Over the last year, people all around the world have responded to the pressures of the pandemic by carving out space for novelty in their careers, communities, and homes. How do we communicate these changes to others? This workshop addressed how we communicate the people, values, and lessons that matter to us most, whether at work, or in other dimensions of our lives. Watch the recording.