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Resident Leadership Academies
Resident Leadership Academies (RLAs) are multi-week training programs for San Diego County residents who want to learn how to improve their local communities. Training sessions focus on topics such as community leadership, crime prevention and safety, land use and active transportation, and healthy food systems.
Residents learn skills and best practices to address the issues that most affect their communities, and they work alongside their neighbors to help improve quality of life where they live. Upon graduation, attendees have new knowledge and access to a support network to help them lead community improvement projects.
RLA Updates and Opportunities
Many individuals and organizations are involved in Resident Leadership Academies across the County. The latest updates can be found on social media.
RLA Curriculum
Those who would like to facilitate an RLA can find the Facilitator/Train the Trainer and Participant materials below. The RLA Curriculum consists of a Participant Manual, modifiable PowerPoints, and various templates and handouts. The curriculum covers subjects such as Community Building Principles, Social Determinants of Health, Land Use and Community Planning, and more.
The County of San Diego currently has two approved RLA curriculums available. For groups funded for a particular RLA session or project, the version of the curriculum to be used will be determined by your funder (see links below). For all other groups, either version, or elements from both, may be used for the trainings.
- 1st Edition Curriculum
1st edition curriculum covers resident-driven community improvement efforts, including community building principles, neighborhood assessment activities and strategies for stakeholder engagement. - 2nd Edition Curriculum
2nd edition curriculum expands on the 1st edition to include embedded activities, reflection questions and content on smoke-free environments and climate change.
Additional RLA Curriculum
- Heat Risk Education Curriculum
The Heat Risk Education Curriculum is a set of PowerPoints and facilitator guides meant to support community leaders and residents involved in community engagement work. The curriculum covers strategies for communicating about global warming and heat risk to the community to motivate behavior change, and covers topics such as global warming, heat illnesses, at-risk groups, prevention, and taking action.
RLA Resources & Opportunities
View the Community Health Improvement Partner's Resident Leadership Academy page for the latest on meetings and trainings.
Bi-Monthly RLA Council Meetings
Meetings to provide additional training, discuss RLA updates, and to engage with other RLA practitioners. Anyone in the RLA network (graduates/residents, facilitators, CBOs and agencies supporting RLA) is welcome and encouraged to attend.
Technical Assistance (TA) for RLA Practitioners
TA is provided by the County to any RLA Practitioner involved with RLAs. TA may consist of assistance with planning of future RLAs, and development, refining, and implementation of Community Improvement Projects (CIPs), for example. For groups funded for a particular RLA session or project, the TA provider will be determined by your funder.
RLA Network Supplemental Training Workshops for Current RLA Practitioners
Supplemental trainings are available to anyone in the RLA network (graduates/residents, facilitators). These trainings focus on expanding leadership skills and offering opportunities for current RLA practitioners to engage with one another. The supplemental trainings may cover, but are not limited to, such topics as: Presentation Skills, Meeting Facilitation, and/or Applying for Resources.
New Facilitator Training/Train the Trainer Seminars
Seminar participants attend 3-4 full days of training, which consist of a detailed review of the curriculum, facilitation practice and tips for RLA planning and coordination. One or more new facilitator trainings per year will be offered through 2019.
Contact us for additional information on any of the resources listed above, or to learn about RLAs happening in your community.
RLA Success Stories
Vet in Crisis Finds Solace By Extending Hand to Others
For John, the war did not end when he came home. It was just beginning.
After multiple tours as a U.S. Marine in the Middle East, his time on the front lines had left scars, most of them invisible. He suffered multiple traumatic brain injuries (TBI) and was haunted by post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), leaving him in pain and suffering. He was in crisis, even finding himself running afoul of the law.
Then he found yoga. He found peace.
For John, not his real name, yoga became a sanctuary, providing a source for some healing of the pain and fear, and helping him temper his reactions to the trauma, breaking a destructive cycle that, if untreated, seemed destined to lead him deeper into trouble.
John began his journey on his own, but his path led to our door. OG Yoga offers programs aimed at veterans, teaching the practices and philosophies that allow veterans to live with PTSD and reclaim control over their actions. John enrolled in our yoga teacher training program and now imparts his knowledge and experience to veterans and other trauma survivors who come to OG Yoga with the hope of reclaiming their lives.
We extended our hand to John, empowering him to lift himself up and move forward, and now he is extending his to others in need.
Although John’s injuries were combat-related, there are many other ways to incur a traumatic brain injury: car crashes, falls, sports injuries and assaults, to name a few. The long-term results are life-altering and can include seizures, sensory dysfunction, chronic and severe headaches, memory loss and difficulty with reasoning, judgment, and communication. In some cases, living with TBI is living with chronic disability.
While there is strong science supporting yoga as a healing modality for TBI, it’s a specific type of yoga taught with firm intention and understanding of the brain that is effective while other, more common forms of yoga can actually worsen TBI symptoms. John trained specifically to teach methods that address TBI and various disabilities.
John teaches chair yoga to a diverse range of students, some with limited mobility, some with physical disabilities. He helps students transform their quality of life with practices designed to heal the brain and regulate TBI symptoms.
This remarkable service work comes from a man who needed a helping hand of his own at one point. It was thanks to generous donors that John was able to enroll in our yoga teacher training.
We believe the practice of yoga transforms lives holistically and, through the physical and mindfulness aspects of yoga, empowers vulnerable members of our community to reclaim their bodies and minds from trauma and thrive. The ripples John and the rest of our teachers are creating with their students continue on and on, and our communities are lifted up with every wave.
Click here to learn more about OG Yoga.