Town Hall: How Do We Support Emerging Leaders for the Common Good?
The institute and its campus partners hosted a second town hall on October 22, as part of the Emerging Leaders for the Common Good Initiative. This initiative is focused on addressing the underrepresentation of public policy and service leaders from underserved communities.
The underrepresentation problem is underscored by the data: while BIPOC individuals comprise approximately 40% of the U.S. population, they hold only about 10% of leadership roles in government and public policy. “The barriers to representation are complex and range from lack of information and mentorship opportunities to bias in hiring processes, and structural, systemic issues,” said Johan Uvin, executive director of the UMass Amherst Donahue Institute. “The Emerging Leaders for the Common Good Initiative engages students, faculty, staff, and community leaders in identifying specific ways to improve representation of underserved communities in public policy and service.”
The town hall discussion aimed to deepen understanding of the issue, prioritize the initiative's audience and program elements, and define a proof-of-concept effort. The discussion prioritized several programmatic key elements:
High priority/initial steps:
- A resource and funding model
- Data, measurement, evaluation, and scaling
Sequencing & content:
- Community engagement was identified as leading to a new joint draft of the proposal.
- The network and community of practice development was also seen as a necessary precursor for community buy-in.
- The program content includes leadership development, AI literacy, career and leadership advancement, and an in-class curriculum.
Town Hall participants, representing a wide swath of campus, including institute staff, visualized the initiative as a central “Leadership Academy” focused on democratic ideals, public policy, and power.
The academy would: 
- connect the program to the community as well as private and non-profit employers.
- function as a bidirectional bridge between the partnerships and the program.
- include a group including faculty, staff, and students who support the partnerships and program as mentors.
- create internships that lead from the Leadership Academy to elected officials' offices.
The group identified “wins” for the initiative that include hiring students, establishing a "Summer Institute," strengthening community college connections, and offering paid applied internships with Springfield & Holyoke representatives. The event ended with identifying next steps: outlining a tentative timeline, including a six-month discovery phase, a summit/launch within nine months, and initiating small-scale implementation in about one year.
"Bringing people together in support of shared goals is typically a rewarding experience, and the October 2025 Town Hall was no exception, concluded Jacqueline Adams, the institute's senior finance and compliance manager and member of the Executive Leadership Team. "Stakeholders were able to spend plenty of time getting to know each other, break bread, and focus on the work of identifying pathways, resources, and partnerships required to support emerging leaders for the common good. Our next steps include establishing working groups and setting goals to shift from the ideation process to making actionable improvements and ultimately celebrating tangible results."
December 16, 2025
