FAQs

Cultural Leadership was founded in 2004 to provide young people in the St. Louis region with the knowledge, motivation, and skills necessary to address the many issues our communities face. In many ways, marginalized groups in America continue to be denied access to the basic resources and rights required to survive and thrive. St. Louis is one of the most racially segregated metro areas in the country, and we all suffer the consequences. Cultural Leadership works to bridge divides and build relationships among young people who want to create positive change in their communities and beyond.

In Cultural Leadership, participants learn about systems of oppression through the lenses of African American and Jewish histories. These groups, in their respective histories, have experienced both unimaginable violence, diaspora, and cultural exclusion. These groups have also persistently acted with incredible strength, resilience, and unity. We celebrate the experiences of African Americans, Jews, and other marginalized groups as we look to them for insight into systems of oppression and the ongoing  fight for justice.

Cultural Leadership works to develop students into civic leaders and social justice change makers by…

• promoting cross-cultural awareness by immersing youth in cultural experiences, gradually dispelling racial, ethnic, cultural, and religious stereotypes
• exploring and explicating the causes and consequences of social injustice
• encouraging cooperation, mutual respect, and dialogue through yearlong relationship building activities
• exposing students to expert speakers and leaders of social movements to model how they can become agents of social change
• developing leadership skills such as public speaking, facilitation, community organizing, and public relations
• motivating students to initiate change in their families, schools, neighborhoods and other circles of social influence
• cultivating the next generation of activists, community organizers, and civil rights leaders

Cultural Leadership’s High School Program is open to current high school sophomores and juniors in the St. Louis region who have demonstrated curiosity, maturity, a sense of civic responsibility, and leadership potential. We welcome applicants of all identities who are interested in becoming civil rights change agents and “troublemakers of the best kind.”

What qualities do you look for when selecting students for the program?

Among the traits we value are…

• Maturity: students must be responsible, dependable, and committed to Cultural Leadership and its mission
• Open-Mindedness: students must be curious and open to new experiences, new thoughts, and new ways of doing things
• Risk-Taking: students must be willing to go outside their social and intellectual comfort zones, to try and to fail, to learn from that failure and try again… and again… and again
• Action: students must be motivated to Stand Up, Speak Out, and Take Action when they see any injustice; and to “grab an ally or two or three, roll up their sleeves, and get to work”
• Leadership: students must be able to inspire and motivate others to rally around a cause

We are dedicated to socioeconomic, racial, ethnic, religious, gender, and ability diversity in each cohort.

Camp Cultural Leadership is open to as many campers who qualify!

Approximately 24 students are selected  High School Leadership Program each year.

The Justice College Internship program is open to our alumni who will dedicate their summer to work in St. Louis. We will work to find internships for all alumni who are committed to it.

In our High School Leadership Program, adults are invited to attend facilitated worships during monthly Sunday programs to learn similar as their students. This parallel curriculum is designed to help parents better support their children and guide them through the Cultural Leadership experience. While we strongly encourage parents to attend these programs, they are not mandatory.

Attendance is required at ALL programs throughout the year.

Cultural Leadership believes that the best way for students to gain understanding and perspective on issues of social justice is by forming relationships with and a community with people different than themselves. Every voice contributes to the composition of the group. When a student misses programming, it’s not only the student who misses out, but the entire group, as well.

Excused absences are extremely rare. They typically involved 1) illness, 2) a once-in-a-lifetime event such as a wedding, bar/bat mitzvah, or funeral, 3) something that significantly affects the students future, like a college admissions interview. Because the High School Leadership program meets only a handful of times throughout the year, attending each program is imperative to students’ success. Missing too much time for any reason may result in a student having to withdraw from the program.

An example schedule is available here: Class 14 Schedule

Cultural Leadership has an annual operating budget of $300,000. The total cost per student for program, travel and food expenses exceeds $8,000 this year. In addition to participant program fees, Cultural Leadership is funded through donations from individuals, foundations, and corporations.

View Cultural Leadership’s Form 990.

Our board of directors is a diverse mix of professionals, entrepreneurs, educators, parents, and alumni. For the current members, please see our board page.

The students who graduate from Cultural Leadership emerge more informed, more curious, and more confident in themselves. They stay engaged with an ever-growing national network of youth committed to fighting ignorance, teaching understanding, and promoting lifelong learning. The following examples illustrate the achievements and contributions of our program’s alumni:

• A group of alumni who organized a diversity round table at their high school
• Jen, who recruited 14 classmates to begin a tutoring program for middle-school students who are reading below grade level
• Cece and Cydney (both African American) who both started Diversity Clubs at their predominantly white high schools
• Emily, who planned and carried out Mix It Up Day at her high school
• A Black alumna who joined the board of Hillel at her college
• Ron lives in Israel and participates in a Muslim-Jewish dialogue group
• Jillian, who was awarded the Community Leader Award by her local YWCA
• Terrell, Tyjuan, and Maurice, all of whom are are all first-generation college students) attended Brandeis University on the Transition Year Program
• A Jewish alumnus who was a member of a Latino empowerment group
• Jeremy, who produced a documentary on civil rights and lived on the Social Action floor of his dorm at NYU
• Richie, who was an Ingram Scholar at Vanderbilt
• Blake, who is bringing a chapter of the first multi-cultural fraternity to his state university
• Hannah and Trevor, who both received the Princeton Prize in Race Relations