The New Orleans Business Alliance announced today that Patrick Young, training manager for the organization’s Talent and Workforce Development department, was selected as a W.K. Kellogg Foundation Community Leadership Network Fellow.

Out of 800 applicants nationwide only 80 were chosen.

Program Develops Local Leaders

Through the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL®) and W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF), the WKKF Community Leadership Network is a model program for developing local leaders who can unite people to create transformational change toward a more equitable society for all.

“Patrick Young represents the best of New Orleans – tenacious, relentless, upbeat and audacious.  His work alongside the five Opportunity Centers to implement a life changing curriculum has been a tremendous underreported aspect of enhancing our city’s ability to cultivate more of its home-grown talent,” said Quentin Messer, Jr., president & CEO of the New Orleans Business Alliance. “His passion and follow through make him an inspiring leader and role model, and we could not be prouder of his well-deserved recognition as a WKKF Community Leadership Fellow.”

National Fellowship

The 18-month fellowship program brings together 80 dynamic and diverse leaders from across the United States and sovereign tribes. The class is organized into cohorts based in Michigan, Mississippi, New Mexico and New Orleans – the foundation’s priority places – along with one national cohort.

Through hands-on training, mentoring and practical experience, the fellowship prepares leaders to “rise to the challenges of our time”. The program offers opportunities to understand the embedded racism in our systems and learn practical approaches to heal and unite communities around solutions.

Fellows go on to lead meaningful change in their communities. Several have run for elected office, including New Orleans City Councilwoman Cyndi Nguyen, to create more equitable policies and foster economic growth that benefits the whole community.

For more information on the WKKF fellowship, click here. 

About the New Orleans Business Alliance

One of only 62 Accredited Economic Development Organizations worldwide, the New Orleans Business Alliance is the official professional economic development organization for New Orleans. Formed in 2010, the public-private partnership focuses on holistic economic development: attract new business, grow existing businesses, revitalize neighborhoods and facilitate comprehensive workforce development programs beneficial for jobseekers and employers. By pursuing an inclusive economic development strategy, we will create the perfect intersection of culture and commerce while delivering New Orleanians enhanced economic security. Visit nolaba.org for more information.

About the Center for Creative Leadership

The Center for Creative Leadership (CCL), a top-ranked provider of executive education, seeks to advance the understanding, practice and development of leadership for the benefit of society worldwide. With nearly 50 years of experience and a dozen offices globally, CCL helps leaders and organizations drive the results that matter most to them. CCL manages the WKKF Community Leadership Network as a grantee of the Kellogg Foundation. For more information, visit ccl.org.

About the Will Keith Kellogg Foundation

Founded by breakfast cereal pioneer Will Keith Kellogg in 1930, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF) is dedicated to supporting thriving children, working families and equitable communities. Embedded within all the foundation does are commitments to advancing racial equity and racial healing, developing leaders and engaging communities in solving their own problems. WKKF supports work throughout the United States and with sovereign tribes, and in Mexico and Haiti, concentrating up to two-thirds of grantmaking in priority places: Michigan, Mississippi, New Mexico and New Orleans in the U.S., Chiapas and the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico, and in Central and South Haiti. For more information, visit wkkf.org.