Emerging Leaders

The Emerging Leaders Network is a national leadership development and movement-building network that trains and supports emerging community activists who are working to advance reproductive health, rights, and justice.

The Emerging Leaders Network, formerly known as NLNI (CLPP’s New Leadership Networking Initiative) is re-launching as a year-long program beginning in Fall 2025 with a redesigned structure and curriculum. 

About the Program

The Emerging Leaders Network is a national leadership development and movement-building network that trains and supports emerging community activists who are working to advance reproductive health, rights, and justice. The Emerging Leaders Network creates opportunities for deep and meaningful collaboration across the reproductive justice movement.

The new Emerging Leaders Network will adopt a year-long cohort model to support relationship building among emerging reproductive justice leaders and to create deeper opportunities for sharpening skills and coalition building.

As with other Collective Power projects, Emerging Leaders Network takes a broad understanding of reproductive justice that emphasizes the intersections of reproductive rights and other aspects of social justice.

Who is a good fit for the Emerging Leaders Network?

The Emerging Leaders Network is for dynamic emerging organizers who have a desire to grow their leadership skills, learn from other emerging leaders, take part in movement building conversations, and build coalitions and collaborations that propel the movement forward.

Emerging leaders should have a few years of organizing experience under their belts already, are ready to level-up and engage in deeper political conversation and strategy, and to develop their leadership skills. They should be ready to learn from one another.

Program History

Since 1999, the program has helped over 1,000 activists from 275 organizations to strengthen their advocacy skills, develop new strategic approaches, and make valuable connections to peers in other organizations and fields. Past participants have included recent graduates in their first jobs, emerging leaders at direct action and reproductive justice advocacy groups, new and advancing staff at large reproductive rights organizations, and new directors of community-based organizations. We believe you can be an emerging leader at any stage of life or at any age, and we welcome people of all ages and backgrounds to apply.



Application & Schedule

The application for our 2025 – 2026 Emerging Leaders cohort will launch on March 27, 2025, and all applications are due by June 1, 2025. The program will run from September 2025 – June 2026, with monthly cohort calls and two in person convenings.

View the Schedule & FAQ’s

For Fall 2025 – Spring 2026 the Emerging Leaders Network will prioritize place-based organizers, particularly rural and small-town organizers, but all will be keenly considered and are welcome to apply.

Apply to The Emerging Leads Network
A Black, queer visionary feminist, I have been organizing individuals and organizations toward liberation at the local, national, and international levels for more than a decade. . . What makes CLPP unique is its intentionality around leadership development – they’re creating a space for both new and experienced leaders with a focus on skill building and issues. It’s a rite of passage – all movement leaders have been through CLPP’s programs.
– Paris Hatcher, founder, Black Feminist Future