Each year the roughly 40 RFL Academy participants are divided into Civic Project teams (with 6-8 participants in each). The purpose of these teams is to provide participants the opportunity to practice the leadership skills learned in the program while making an impact in the community. The RFL Civic Project, implemented between September-May, serves as a “capstone” learning experience for our class members.

View past selected projects by clicking here.
Potential Civic Projects are best when:

  • The Civic Project will have a measurable, visible positive impact on the community.

  • The topic and associated activities are consistent with RFL’s principles and mission.

  • The scope is both narrow and specific and can be thoroughly explored and addressed within the RFL class structure.

  • There is ample opportunity for all group members to be appropriately involved.

  • The Civic Project has a significant “Acceptance” component (meaning that winning support for the idea is as important as developing the idea).

  • The “data” needed to come up with a high-quality solution or action plan is already available, easily collected, and/or resides in the minds of participants and/or community members.

  • There is energy and a sense of urgency to resolve the issue now.

If you have an idea for a civic project (a change initiative, community challenge or opportunity) please complete this form by providing answers to the questions below and SUBMIT by 5:00 pm on Friday, August 23, 2024

These questions are directly linked to the ‘screening criteria’ we use to ‘rate’ potential project ideas. We use a 5 point rating system: 1= meets criteria at the lowest level and 5= meets criteria at the highest level. We are looking for a minimum score of 30. If your initial submission does not attain this minimum score, we will discuss/offer options that could help enhance the project’s viability. Our goal is to offer our class teams a variety of options to choose from, so the more project ideas the better!

Please fill out the digital Civic Project Submission form below by Friday, August 23th. If prefer to download the form and submit via email click here and email the completed form to andrea@rfleadership.org.

Assistance Request for: Civic Project Application

Sorry, the person responsible for this form has not provided any contact information.

See the examples below for the kinds of RFL team roles that would provide such a “capstone” learning experience:

Project Weak RFL Team Role Strong RFL Team Role
Rocky Mountain Nature Trail Help build a nature trail for autistic kids. Help develop a strategic plan for broadening our programming reach to include autistic children. Provide guidance on how to do strategic planning and lead sessions with staff, board and key stakeholders to draft the plan. If possible, help us develop a funding plan that will broaden our current base of supporters.
Reduce Our Carbon Footprint! Help us to work with our public schools to become more aware of ways to reduce our overall carbon footprint. Help us develop/refine our approach to working with local public schools to better engage teachers and administrators around ideas our group has to reduce carbon emissions. Provide coaching on change management, conflict resolution, and project planning as needed.
It’s Time To Volunteer! Help us identify and recruit volunteers for our summer camping program. Help us develop a new volunteer identification and recruiting process for our summer camping program to double the number of people in our candidate pool. Provide guidance on how to best screen potential volunteers and then incent them to stick with the program for the full summer season.
Opioids Are Killing Us Help us develop an opioid abuse awareness campaign for communities up and down the Roaring Fork Valley. Help us understand best practices in the area of public awareness campaigns and then help us apply these best practices to our current efforts in the opioid awareness area. Provide guidance on how to identify what is a “best practice” and then facilitate staff/board working sessions to decide how and where to apply these best practices to our work.