Leadership Development & Capacity Building


Leadership Development

The JGC supports leaders within school districts and local youth-serving public agencies and community based organizations to expand their potential by working cooperatively and collaboratively toward common goals. In this sense, leadership development involves changing the paradigm from merely individually effective leaders to those who "can work in networks of responsibility" as John W. Gardner once wrote, to improve youth outcomes across boundaries and contexts.


We conduct leadership development through facilitation of initiatives and trainings that include:


  1. Cross-sector planning and community development (CYDI)
  2. Youth led research and youth leadership development (CYDI, YELL, EPA Arts, Music and Cultural Center)
  3. Youth–adult partnerships to meet community-identified goals or outcomes (Prevention Partnership, CYDI)
  4. Stanford student support and training (internships, positions, course connections)

Capacity Building

JGC works with partners to develop and expand their skills and knowledge about researchable questions, data collection and interpretation, and valid and reliable indicators of positive youth development that will result in actionable findings to improve outcomes for youth. The JGC builds capacity through ongoing partnerships and projects that:


  1. Use data to drive action. (Youth Data Archive, College Readiness Indicator Systems)
  2. Inquire deeply into “what works for youth” in and across settings and systems (Implementation Research)
  3. Embed youth development as a city-wide approach to create thriving environments for youth (CYDI)
  4. Facilitate the creation of shared frameworks to guide planning, decision making, and ongoing capacity building (CYDI, Community School Resource Initiative)