Ebook: Building Collective Leadership for Culture Change: Stories of Relational Organizing on Campus and Beyond

Building Collective Leadership for Culture Change shows how five community engagement research projects in the greater Los Angeles area were able to create more collaborative and participatory cultures in their academic institutions and non-academic settings by using community organizing, research-in-action, and narrative inquiry. These projects focused on integrating civic engagement into the work of scholars, creating a civic engagement minor at CSU Dominguez Hills, integrating community organizing practices within an LA school district, and building a regional organizing network among civically engaged higher education institutions.

As the case studies authored by Maria Avila and her collaborators show, these projects succeeded because they took place in collaborative spaces where participants were part of designing the purpose, goals, and specific actions to create culture change. Building Collective Leadership for Culture Change is a vital inquiry into the possibilities of collective interpretation among researchers and participants of their accomplishments.