Community Leadership Development: Perspectives of Graduates of a Low-Income Leadership Development Program on Family Relations

Drawing mostly on qualitative data, this article explores how members of low-income communities experience and recognize changes in family relationships after participation in a community leadership program. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 55 program graduates and surveys were completed by 80 graduates. Content analysis and descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data. Qualitative findings suggest that although community leadership programs emphasize the enhancement of individual leadership skills, valuable secondary benefits on familial relations also occur. Quantitative analyses corroborated the perception of graduates on increased leadership development and the improvement in relational knowledge and skills.