Public Allies Delaware

Public Allies is a national movement committed to advancing social justice and equity by engaging and activating the leadership capacities of people from all communities, especially those who are most often underrepresented.

Public Allies Delaware is a program of the University of Delaware Center for Community Research & Service. We believe that communities already have the leadership they need to create lasting social change. 

To that end, each year we recruit people from a diversity of backgrounds to apply for our unique 10-month AmeriCorps program. Our participants develop their leadership abilities and influence and get on a pathway to furthering their education and career. Our program weaves together four key elements that constitute an experiential journey of self-discovery and professional development:

• Apprenticeship Allies are provided with the opportunity to gain real world experiences in a supportive learning environment, while building organizational capacity within a nonprofit or public agency. Allies create, improve, and expand services with measurable results.
• Reflection & Coaching Share results, observations, analyze and reflect. A consistent and supportive practice of critical reflection allows leaders to understand their experiences and accelerate personal growth. By learning to give and receive feedback, leaders strengthen relationships, collaborations and teams. Through this process, leaders define and claim their narratives as individuals and as a collective.
• Team Service Project (TSP) A team of Allies works together to plan and implement a project to benefit their community. Allies have an opportunity to mobilize individual and community assets and work with people from all walks of life.
• Training & Learning Guided by a robust and relevant curriculum, cohorts of leaders gather to engage with theoretical frameworks, peer-problem-solve, and learn new skills essential to their work. This is a time of building cohort. Honing 21st Century leadership and workplace skills helps leaders from all backgrounds learn new ways of responding to problems and initiating solutions that encourage shared responsibility, alliance-building, and using existing resources.