About Us

Engaging diverse leaders to change the world in ways they never before dared.

For nearly 30 years, The Center for Leadership Innovation (TCLI) has been dedicated to serving communities through society’s most valuable asset: its leaders. Through our workshops, networks and funding opportunities, we are helping diverse leaders to reach their full potential and leverage their ability to bring about innovative change.

Since our beginning in 1981 as the Development Training Institute (DTI), we have forged new relationships between the public and private sectors to support those engaged in community development and community building. In 2009, we renamed the organization to become The Center for Leadership Innovation because for years we have been a catalyst for innovative change at the community level in the United States and beyond.

Our programs have touched 17,000 urban and rural leaders who are achieving community-driven social change. We are dedicated to building a movement of diverse leaders and organizations that understand and are grounded in the communities they serve. Over 64% of our graduates are people of color, and 77% are people of color or women.

TCLI creates an open, candid, and energized learning community where new insights and breakthrough approaches for social change can emerge. 

We provide exposure to best practices, peer coaching and intensive leadership development programs that inspire current leaders and prepare the next generation to implement ideas that will revitalize communities and reinvent organizations.

Participants of our Minnesota Latino Nonprofit Leadership Academy launched this year.