Lived Experience Leaders
Our flagship program amplifies and supports changemakers to create the change they want to see in their community. The program welcomed its first cohort in 2020, and its fourth in the fall of 2024!
What is Lived Experience Leaders?
Lived Experience Leaders deepens and diversifies Winona’s pool of community leaders.
The cohort program provides training and resources to amplify voices and support changemaking ideas of folks across the Winona area - including surrounding rural communities, whose diverse lived experiences have given them unique and powerful expertise to create equitable change for Winona.
The program was designed with this vision of change: Diverse community members with lived experience owning their personal stories and journeys by reframing past challenges as gifting them with superhero talents to serve others in similar situations and then receiving support to create community change focused on helping others with similar lived experiences, by providing mentorship, support, and addressing both the common and unique barriers to access and participation they face.
Ripple Effect Mapping
In the summer of 2024, Engage Winona joined the Highlighting Stories of Community Resilience project, a collaboration between the Blandin Foundation and the University of Minnesota Extension. This initiative aims to showcase stories of resilience while refining strategies to support rural leaders and communities through cross-sector projects.
As part of the project, leaders from Engage Winona’s Lived Experience Leaders (LEL) program partnered with project staff to conduct a Ripple Effects Mapping (REM) evaluation. REM is an interactive method where participants visually map the ripple effects of a program, highlighting its outcomes and broader impact.
This report shares the key findings from the REM process, shedding light on how the LEL program contributes to community resilience and inspires meaningful change.
Thank you to our sponsors!
Thank you to WNB Financial for sponsoring Lived Experience Leaders! Their sponsorship helps us provide support like childcare, transportation, and technology to reduce barriers to participation.
Thank you to Target, United Way of Olmsted County, and our local Walmart #5397 on 955 Frontenac Dr. for contributing a Walmart Spark Good Community Grant to support Lived Experience Leaders.
