Sustainable Prosperity, Inc, formerly known as The Greater Pittsboro Community Development Corporation (GP-CDC), received a $61,000 grant from a private donor to develop training materials for a transformational leadership program created by New Science Consulting Group, Inc. (NSC). Four years ago, a Raleigh woman created a giving fund through a national Christian organization with the intent to empower and sustain social justice organizations by providing them with advanced training in transformational leadership skills. The donor had experienced a year-long transformational leadership program while working with a local hospice and believed it could make the kind of difference she envisioned.

To see what might be possible she approached the creator of the program, Dr. Thomas Griggs. Kevin Russell, one of GP-CDC’s members, and an associate of Dr. Griggs, realized the alignment between the GP-CDC’s and NSC’s missions in building leadership in its stakeholder communities, and suggested that GP-CDC could provide a vehicle for achieving this vision. Dr. Griggs, the creator of Transformational Leadership for Sustainable Social Change (TL) has over 35 years of experience with both for-profit and not-for-profit organizations across the US, and is President and CEO of New Science Consulting Group, Inc., in Raleigh. TL refers to the ability of leaders to create significant, positive and sustainable changes in their own emotions, thinking and relationships in order to bring about parallel breakthroughs in their social and organizational missions.

For example, an Executive Director (ED) who develops a new level of confidence as a leader also learns to trust senior members of her staff more fully. Together the ED and the staff engage in a much higher level of cooperation and collaboration with their community and program partners. The stronger relationships between the partners dramatically advance their respective missions. TL is a skill-based process that sustains and empowers leaders to achieve results they had previously regarded as unattainable and create the conditions for others to work cooperatively in lasting relationships. The grant will make Transformational Leadership Training available to GP-CDC and other social justice non-profits in the Piedmont region.