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In Paris, CLA Fellows Find Challenges, Strategies, and Insights New and Familiar during 2023 Global Practicum

Education
Published: Mar 30 2023

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On February 28th, Chicagoans headed to the polls to select the top candidates for mayor and city council run-offs. Just a week later, on March 7, a wave of strikes in Paris began against raising the retirement age in France. As two global cities faced dizzying change, and considered the type of leadership needed to grapple with contentious differences in search of a better future, 30 of Chicago’s most promising civic leaders bridged the divide, descending on Paris for the Civic Leadership Academy’s annual Global Practicum–a weeklong immersive experience where fellows meet with their Parisian counterparts in government and non-profit organizations.

Though the annual trip across the Atlantic is certainly an exciting moment in CLA fellows’ six-month training, it is not simply an exercise in cohort bonding. As Sadia Sindhu, executive director of the Center for Effective Government—CLA’s home within the Harris School of Public Policy—explains, the stakes are high, and the benefits of the global exchange run deep. “The Global Practicum is a unique opportunity for these professionals who work primarily in a local context to situate themselves and their work on the international scale,” says Sindhu. “Speakers discuss strategies they employ to tackle leadership challenges they face, and CLA fellows engage them directly in discussion to ultimately see problems they themselves face in a new light.”

The trip revolves around a series of site visits, where fellows visit and hear from Paris civic leaders at their workplaces. Each site visit in 2023 included general discussion of those leaders’ work and current projects; mainly though, the sessions featured a level of vulnerability and openness not always seen from local officials in news reports or headlines. The Parisian leaders shared their own challenges with Civic Leadership Academy fellows, opening up about the ways that, at times, working within governmental or organizational spaces conflicts with their personal values—and the efforts they take to work through those tensions.

Eve Plenel, director of the City of Paris Department of Public Health, had her roots in advocacy work around ending the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Paris. From her work across sectors, she’s come to understand the contrast between the openness towards innovative solutions that is commonplace in the non-profit space and the limitations leaders often face working in government. CLA fellows, too, experience this push-and-pull, which led to informative dialogue about how to translate the malleable, dynamic strategies of the nonprofit sector to their work in government.

Over the course of the week, fellows began to piece together topics covered during and insights garnered from individual site visits. For instance, the cohort’s meeting with Vanessa Benoit— who works to support the homeless population in Paris with direct services as managing director of Samusocial de Paris—complemented a conversation with Bertrand Bret, head of international affairs at Paris Habitat, the primary social housing organization that houses one out of every nine Parisians. Both spoke about how the lack of new development space in Paris hampers their service provision and requires them to make the best of what exists. 

Similarly, the site visit to the Climate Academy—an organization funded and housed in the City of Paris providing climate education to Parisian youth and adults—worked in tandem with the fellows’ discussion with Priscillia Ludosky, co-founder of the Yellow Vests movement for economic and environmental justice in France. Hearing the strategies these advocates use to advance policy and promote their missions was incredibly fruitful for the cohort–many of whom seek to innovate their own communication strategies in service of their civic efforts.

The Global Practicum is a unique opportunity for these professionals who work primarily in a local context to situate themselves and their work on the international scale

An important learning for CLA fellows so familiar with the cultural and social context of their work within Chicago was their exposure to how French identity and universalism inform their work and how measurable their impact can be—something each of the Parisian civic leaders touched upon. 

Two visits in particular focused on historical conceptions of belonging in France, given how citizenship was kept from members of nations colonized in the French empire. During the first event of the Global Practicum, fellows joined a walking tour with Kévi Donat, founder of Le Paris Noir–a company specializing in telling the story of Black Paris. This tour, titled “Pioneers,” took the fellows through the history of Black thought leaders, activists, and politicians in Paris. 

Many CLA fellows found Donat’s tour to be the perfect start to the week. Kenneth Gilkes Jr., a 2023 fellow and Director of Real Estate for ITAV Development, explained that “Kévi guided us through the nuances of Afro-French history in a way that addressed structural racism, with an intellectual and witty comedic cadence that allowed the information to be digestible and resonate with our group.” Kenneth noted that “It was clear that he took a deep dive into history and was able to distill the message or go into greater detail depending on the audience. His tour set the tone for our trip and he quickly became one of our favorite speakers.”

Later in the week, in a meeting with Professor Naomi Davidson—an expert on historical and modern configurations of race and religion in France, its colonies, and territories—fellows learned about the basis for “liberté, égalité, fraternité” in France, and how its constitutional implementation has at times fallen short of its aspirations.

Ultimately, the week’s events allowed Chicago’s local leaders to see their leadership challenges mirrored and validated in a different, global context—all while offering the chance to learn from, engage with, and strengthen ties to a new set of peers.

And of course, even as the fellows navigated a busy schedule of site visits and meetings while fighting back jet lag, there were still important moments for bonding, camaraderie, and cultural exchange. These experiences happened in small moments, like walks between meetings or over late-night group meals, but also amidst pomp and circumstance: in a trip highlight, fellows descended upon George C. Marshall Center of the U.S. Embassy in Paris for a reception to celebrate the end of their journeys and connect again with the speakers they had heard from throughout the week in a more intimate setting.

As the fellows and their French counterparts parted ways to confront the challenges of their daily work and those facing their home cities, they left feeling energized about the work to come and what they had learned from each other in such a short time.

“The global practicum was an amazing experience that provided a unique perspective on leadership and civic engagement,” said Kathy Chan, a 2023 CLA fellow and Director of Policy for Cook County Health. “It was different from anything else I could have experienced in Chicago or anywhere else in the United States. I look forward to applying the leadership lessons to my work in Chicago and Cook County.”

You can find highlights from this year’s Global Practicum on CLA’s Twitter, where you’ll also find the latest on upcoming opportunities to engage with CLA fellows, alumni, and the broader work of the Center for Effective Government.