The HIGHER Ground Leadership Development Program is an immersive five-month leadership development experience for leaders who are ready to stretch beyond their comfort zones, expand their leadership capacity, and elevate their impact as leaders. With a focus on transformation, grace, and courage in leadership, participants engage in intellectual and experiential workshops where they explore what is possible for them to become the leaders they are truly meant to be.

This program is designed to benefit current and emerging leaders at all career levels in public, private, nonprofit, and entrepreneurial positions who are committed to investing in themselves, their organizations, and their communities by pursuing both personal and professional growth.     

The Higher Ground Leadership Development Program does not restrict eligibility for or participation in the program based on sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, or sexual orientation.  All individuals who support the professional growth and leadership development of women are welcome to participate in HIGHER Ground programs and events.

Program Objectives

HIGHER Ground content includes discussions, workshops, and experiential learning designed to:

• Develop the skills and methods for engaging in and understanding leadership through practice-in-action and reflective inquiry,
• Broaden the capacity to model and emulate leadership behaviors and practices designed to strengthen collaboration and transformation, and
• Strengthen the performance capacities of participants as agents of positive impact to help them confidently achieve meaningful, action-oriented results.

This program provides an excellent opportunity for personal and professional development and networking while providing CEU's and SHRM PDC's.

Who Should Participate?

HIGHER Ground is for current and emerging leaders at all levels in public, private, nonprofit, and entrepreneurial positions who are committed to investing in themselves and their organizations. 

Each HIGHER Ground class is limited to a maximum of 36 participants. 

All applications require the following documents:

• Responses to three (3) leadership short-answer questions (100-Word Maximum)
• One (1) personal, long-form essay (500-Word Maximum)
• A curriculum vitae (CV) OR resumé
• One (1) professional reference;  please send this form to the individual providing your reference
• A completed online application
  

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Reference Form

Applications are due by Friday, November 13th, 2026.

*Please note that the Google Form application will not save automatically. We encourage you to write your responses to the prompts and to the essay in a separate document to cut and paste into the Google form when you are ready to submit the complete application.