Universal National Service Principles:
The Poughkeepsie Impact Community is led by Lead for Poughkeepsie (LFPK), a local affiliate of Lead for America. LFPK is establishing a collaborative of local organizations focused on building comprehensive strategies to align service years with the growing ecosystem of place-based initiatives in the City of Poughkeepsie and Dutchess County region. Through this approach, LFPK strives to support the development of cradle-to-career systems of opportunity for children, youth and families. By 2024, the Poughkeepsie Impact Community aims to create 100 service year opportunities offered annually for community leaders to tackle pressing public problems in our City in collaboration with social impact organizations.
LFPK’s service year strategy will center around two key components: i) Strengthening our existing Lead for Poughkeepsie Hometown Fellowship Program and ii) Spearheading the development of a National Service Accelerator inspired by national best practices such as Stockton Service Corps, Baltimore Corps and the National Service Accelerator in Flint, Michigan.
“We are joining the Service Year Alliance Impact Community initiative to learn about cutting-edge approaches to harnessing service years as a strategy for place-based cradle-to-career solutions. We are excited to build relationships and learn from communities across the nation that believe in the power of service to catalyze social transformation." - Wesley Dixon, LFPK Program Director
Lead Organization
Points of Contact
- Wesley Dixon, Executive Director
- Rob Watson, Co-Founder of Lead for Poughkeepsie
Latest News & Accomplishments
Lead for Poughkeepsie helps young talent stay at home
“Nestled inside Poughkeepsie’s Trolley Barn is a group of talented young people who have the potential to change the city. They're part of the first group of Lead for Poughkeepsie fellows through the Poughkeepsie branch of Lead for America, a national organization founded in 2018 to encourage young educated Americans to return to their hometowns to start their careers instead of flocking to bigger cities.”
Poughkeepsie's cradle to career efforts
“Leaders from the Education Redesign Lab (EdRedesign) at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and the William Julius Wilson Institute at Harlem Children’s Zone (HCZ) visited Poughkeepsie, NY and the Dutchess County region to learn more about their efforts to create cradle-to-career systems of opportunity for children, youth, and families.”
If you would like more information on Impact Communities, please reach out to [email protected].