Live Well San Diego
Home MenuHeader Search Box - Custom Content
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
Legal Aid Society Advocates for Low Income Residents
Gregory E. Knoll, CEO/Executive Director, Consumer Center for Health Education and Advocacy
The Legal Aid Society of San Diego, Inc. is a nonprofit law firm that provides free legal services to lower income San Diego residents. The mission of the Legal Aid Society of San Diego Inc. is to improve lives by advancing justice through effective, efficient, and vigorous legal advocacy, outreach, and education. Here are just two examples of how their services impact individual’s lives.
Housing Crisis
The Consumer Center for Health Education and Advocacy, a project of the Legal Aid Society of San Diego, received a call from a 61-year-old consumer who suffered from both mental health and physical health disabilities and was struggling with his Section 8 housing recertification. It was a complex process, and he had no experience with it. With the help of Legal Aid’s Housing Administrative Hearing Advocate, the short-term case managers helped the consumer obtain and submit the necessary documents for the recertification to keep the client in stable housing. Working, Legal Aid staff were also able to connect the client with their community partner’s, the Disability Rights Center of California, Client Assistance Program. These efforts preserved the client's Section 8 voucher and Low-Income Housing Tax Credit.
The team also helped the client use emergency flex funds from the County of San Diego to vaccinate the client's service dog, which allowed the client to comply with his newly signed 14-month lease. At the time, the client was also working to fulfill his lifelong dream of going to law school with the assistance of the California Department of Rehabilitation. These efforts helped ensure that the client could receive the assistance needed to begin his individualized education plan to attend law school. He is now preparing to take the LSAT.
Securing Surgery
A local resident was denied gender-affirming surgery (metoidioplasty or “bottom surgery”) because the requested surgeon was out-of-network for the resident’s medical insurance plan. The plan alleged to have qualified in-network surgeons. The consumer and Legal Aid Society of San Diego staff called the insurance company’s Member Services to request an appeal and a list of in-network providers that had the appropriate specialty and clinical expertise to complete the needed procedure. The insurance company’s Member Services representative refused the requests, indicating that it was the consumer’s responsibility to identify a provider and to confirm if a provider was “in-network.”
After both the prior authorization and a request to see an out-of-network provider were denied, the consumer appealed and was again denied by the plan. Legal Aid Society of San Diego staff helped the consumer draft and file a Department of Managed Health Care (DMHC) complaint highlighting several deficiencies in the plan’s network, their non-compliance with the appeal process, and timely access to care. After extensive advocacy on behalf of the consumer and submission of medical evidence supporting the patient’s requests, Department of Managed Health Care overturned the plan’s prior denial. The plan then authorized the patient to see the out-of-network provider, including out-of-town travel support.
Unfortunately, days before the patient’s surgery, the medical director of the plan reversed the authorization to cover the travel support needed to obtain the services. This delay then led the surgical center to cancel the procedure. Legal Aid Society of San Diego quickly filed a new Department of Managed Health Care complaint and after weeks of additional delay and extensive advocacy by Legal Aid Society of San Diego, the surgery, travel, and lodging were authorized and rescheduled. The Legal Aid Society of San Diego’s persistent advocacy for this consumer helped the customer obtain the needed services.
Learn more about Legal Aid Society of San Diego and their services at: https://www.lassd.org/