Civic Leadership Academy

Civic Leadership Academy (CLA) is an engaging 8-week program that provides residents with an in-depth look at City government. The program includes tours, hands-on demonstrations and presentations that give participants an insider view of how the City of New Orleans operates. ​This 8-week, evening program was designed for residents and civic leaders interested in the following:

• learning how to effectively lead collective action towards the advancement of neighborhoods and quality of life;​ and
• Becoming better neighborhood advocates​ by learning how to encourage collaboration and partnership between a wide range of community organizations.

The Fall 2025 Civic Leadership Academy Cohort has graduated!

In the second half of 2025, the Mayor’s Neighborhood Engagement Office (NEO) has engaged, empowered, and cultivated 31 new civic leaders during the Fall 2025 Cohort of Civic Leadership Academy (CLA). The program participants successfully met the requirement of committing  to eight weeks of instruction where they received an insider's view of how the City operates through interactive activities and in-depth presentations from City Department representatives and members of the City Council.

The curriculum of Civic Leadership Academy meets civic leaders where they are with weekly topics such as Economic Development, Infrastructure, and Quality of Life. Each week the program participants purposefully engaged with City officials and Councilmembers in a robust question and answer portion of class that allowed for information sharing and learning to happen regarding the mechanics of City government.

On Thursday, October 23, 2025, the Mayor’s Neighborhood Engagement Office held the graduation ceremony for the fall 2025 Cohort of the Civic Leadership Academy to recognize and celebrate the 31 new civic leaders who have successfully completed the program. The ceremony was held in the City Council Chambers where each graduate received an official Certificate of Recognition and encouragement to continue doing the work to improve the quality of life in their communities and educate fellow residents about how to advance their priorities and arrive at solutions to community concerns. We wish our civic leaders the very best and we look forward to our continued engagement.

The Civic Leadership Academy 2025 Spring Cohort.

In the first half of 2025, the Civic Leadership Academy has engaged, educated, and graduated 35 new civic leaders with the Spring 2025 Cohort of the highly sought after Civic Leadership Academy. Over the course of this 8-week instructional period, program participants were given in-depth presentations by city officials and received remarks from City Councilmembers, rounding out their civic engagement experience. The instructional material each week was organized based on preselected topics such as public safety or quality of life and allowed students to learn how the City is structured and how vital City services are provided for residents. The interactive engagement during the Q&A sessions helped to create a learning atmosphere that at sometimes was very serious and at other times heart-warming and lively. The program participants expressed that the learning that took place has equipped each CLA student with additional knowledge making them a greater resource for their neighborhoods and within their networks, especially as it relates to assisting others to navigate City government.

On May 29^th, 2025, the Mayor’s Neighborhood Engagement Office celebrated the completion of the Spring session of Civic Leadership Academy during the graduation ceremony held in the City Council Chambers. We truly appreciate the commitment to education and civic engagement demonstrated by the 35 members of the Spring 2025 Cohort of Civic Academy and wish for each of them the very best. Looking ahead to the fall, please stay connected to receive our next call for applications in August.

Goals

• Build the capacity of leaders to become effective neighborhood advocates
• Construct a source of leadership from communities
• Encourage collaboration and partnership between a wide range of community organizations