The W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF) in Battle Creek, Michigan, has announced the latest cohort of its WKKF Community Leadership Network, which aims to strengthen local leadership and improve equitable opportunities for children, families, and communities.

Led and managed by the Center for Creative Leadership, the 18-month fellowship program recognized 80 leaders from the foundation’s focus areas: Michigan, Mississippi, New Mexico, and New Orleans. Launched in 2014, the program emphasizes racial equity and racial healing, community engagement, and collective leadership. Upon completion, alumni participate in the Global Fellows Network, which offers ongoing educational opportunities. This year’s cohort features educators, youth mentors, health practitioners, business leaders, social entrepreneurs, tribal leaders, and elected officials as well as an urban farmer, consumer protection lawyer, breastfeeding medicine specialist, music theory professor, rural technology consultant, and an Indigenous rights activist.

“Fellows go on to serve their communities in phenomenal ways,” said WKKF chief leadership and human capital strategist Paul Martinez. “Alumni are facilitating DEI work within institutions, connecting students who are undocumented with legal representation, and authoring books on economic opportunities for people post-incarceration. Others have run for office, becoming state legislators and tribal council members to create equitable policies that benefit entire communities.”

For a complete list of this year’s fellows, see the WKKF Community Leadership Network website.

(Photo credit: Getty Images/Violeta Stoimenova)