12 Organizations Receive Inaugural Leadership Network Grants

The Bush Foundation announced today the inaugural recipients of its Leadership Network Grants. These 12 organizations will work to develop leaders who have the skills and cultural agility to provide effective leadership in diverse communities.

The activities funded range from building bridges among Asian ethnicities and generations, to expanding programming in rural areas, to building a talent pipeline for public service, to exploring how arts and leadership intersect. Collectively, the grantees encompass a wide breadth of programming. They reach into diverse communities of geography, culture and affinity across the region.

“These programs are developing leaders who are the future of the region,” said G. Bryan Fleming, the Foundation’s leadership programs director. “We hope to be great learning partners with these grantees on key challenges, including how to build the cultural agility of leaders, ensure excellent leadership development programming, evaluate leadership work, and better support and connect with their alumni and our own.”

The Foundation’s investment in building the capacity of individuals through fellowships began in 1965. Since then, more than 2,200 Bush Fellows and Native Nation Rebuilders have reshaped every aspect of the region from government to education to art to social services to business. By expanding beyond fellowships to include organizational grant support, the Foundation is investing in work that inspires leaders to think bigger and think differently about what’s possible in their communities.

“Creating the Leadership Network Grant Program was a natural extension of our fellowship work,” said Jen Ford Reedy, the Foundation’s president. “We want leaders to be better equipped and better networked to lead change. By partnering with other organizations who do this, we ensure leaders have a more options to discover and develop the skills and support they need to become more effective leaders.”