Transformative Leadership
Members $125/Non-members $250
NTEN courses run for one week and are offered twice a year.
This course was very relevant to what is happening in our world and lives today.
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Course participant
Course Overview
Notice and Understand Harm
Understand direct, structural, and cultural violence
Active Listening
Practice empathetic listening and openness.
Assertive Communication
Practice assertive nonviolent communication.
Description
Transformative leadership is an approach that centers resilience, listening, trauma, anger, and building consensus. You’ll focus on understanding how to build community through affirmation and communication, active listening, and assertive communication within your team as well as with the communities you serve. We’ll work on developing our awareness of harm, learning to identify the type and root causes of harm in the workplace, community, or at home, and exploring how different forms of violence interact with systems of oppression. Our goal is to practice assertive nonviolent communication based on noticing and analyzing harm and active listening. You’ll learn to:
- See and distinguish emotions, values, and facts when in difficult conversations.
- Identify the intangible human needs of others and strategies you can do to meet them.
- Discuss the difference between aggressive, passive-aggressive, and assertive communication.
Presenters
Monica Eveline Curca
Founder and Director
Activate Labs

Monica Curca is a peacebuilder and strategist working at the intersection of social transformation and storytelling. Monica has designed and led strategy for immersive storytelling and social engagement campaigns with Palestinian Youth Movement at Standing Rock, Mothers of the Movement against police brutality and The Refugees Welcome Project. These campaigns have been featured on NPR, the Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, Vice News, and Aljazeera. Monica is the founder and director of Activate Labs, a design strategy, storytelling and transformational peacebuilding organization that centers those directly impacted by violence, poverty and oppression to tell their own stories and lead their own transformation. Activate Labs has developed the “Frame Design Process”, and facilitates experiential and participatory design processes and workshops around the world. Monica holds two Masters Degrees from the Heller School for Social Policy in Management at Brandeis University, in Sustainable International Development and Conflict and Coexistence and has lectured at USC School of Media Arts and Practice, Occidental College, and University of California Irvine.
Pre-Work (Readings & Quiz)
Homework
Sun
Mon
Tues
Wed
Live Event
Recording Available
Thur
Fri
Sat
Sun
20-30 mins (Self-Paced)
90min
20-30 mins (Self-Paced)
Pre-Work
Several relevant articles will establish key concepts and ideas as a primer to the live event, and help you to identify questions and topics you want to explore further.
Knowledge Check
A brief quiz will reinforce what you've learned so far. Don't stress - it isn't pass/fail - it is just to help you remember and distill the concepts you read in the pre-work.
Live Event
This is a 90-minute live captioned online training with opportunities to interact with the presenter and your peers. And if you can't make the live session, you'll be able to access a captioned recording.
Homework
Faculty, themselves experts with a wealth of nonprofit experience, have created exercises that will reinforce what you've learned and give you actionable steps to improving your organization.
Earn While You Learn - Professional Credits
In addition to our own Nonprofit Technology Professional Certificate, NTEN is an approved provider for a number of other professional credentials programs.
This course qualifies for the following credits:
NTEN Professional Certificate
CFRE
CAE