About LEAP
LEAP (Learn. Explore. Activate in Place.) is a leadership and strategy initiative that brings community and economic development leaders to exemplary host cities to explore innovative models of economic development through peer exchange and on-the-ground engagement with local practitioners, projects, and community wealth-building strategies.
LEAP St. Paul | September 2026
St. Paul and the broader Twin Cities region have become a nationally recognized hub for shared ownership innovation. The 2026 LEAP cohort will travel to St. Paul for a hands-on, place-based experience focused on employee ownership and community owned real estate models. This is intended to support participants in seeing firsthand how CWB strategies can work together prior to engaging in a virtual ecosystem accelerator covering the foundations of Community Wealth Building ecosystem building.
LEAP Readiness Training: Pre-trip consultation and preparation facilitated by NGIN, including a community scan to better understand each participant’s local ecosystem, priorities, and opportunities ahead of the experience. Participants will also take part in virtual sessions covering shared ownership models, stakeholder alignment, financing strategies, policy levers, ecosystem mapping, and peer exchange.
Participants will receive:
Direct engagement with local leadersin St. Paul and the Twin Cities — Through curated site visits to employee-owned businesses, community land trusts, and cooperatively owned real estate projects, hear directly from developers, organizers, and anchor institutions that built these models from the ground up.
A national peer cohort — Connect with a vetted group of community and economic development leaders from across the country who are confronting the same challenges.
Facilitated strategy sessions — Structured time to translate observations into next steps for your community.
Implementation Roadmap — Each participant will leave with a concrete action plan for what your team will do next to develop their CWB ecosystem.
About LEAP
LEAP (Learn. Explore. Activate in Place.) is a leadership and strategy initiative that brings community and economic development leaders to exemplary host cities to explore innovative models of economic development through peer exchange and on-the-ground engagement with local practitioners, projects, and community wealth-building strategies.
LEAP St. Paul | September 2026
St. Paul and the broader Twin Cities region have become a nationally recognized hub for shared ownership innovation. The 2026 LEAP cohort will travel to St. Paul for a hands-on, place-based experience focused on employee ownership and community owned real estate models. This is intended to support participants in seeing firsthand how CWB strategies can work together prior to engaging in a virtual ecosystem accelerator covering the foundations of Community Wealth Building ecosystem building.
LEAP Readiness Training: Pre-trip consultation and preparation facilitated by NGIN, including a community scan to better understand each participant’s local ecosystem, priorities, and opportunities ahead of the experience. Participants will also take part in virtual sessions covering shared ownership models, stakeholder alignment, financing strategies, policy levers, ecosystem mapping, and peer exchange.
Participants will receive:
Direct engagement with local leadersin St. Paul and the Twin Cities — Through curated site visits to employee-owned businesses, community land trusts, and cooperatively owned real estate projects, hear directly from developers, organizers, and anchor institutions that built these models from the ground up.
A national peer cohort — Connect with a vetted group of community and economic development leaders from across the country who are confronting the same challenges.
Facilitated strategy sessions — Structured time to translate observations into next steps for your community.
Implementation Roadmap — Each participant will leave with a concrete action plan for what your team will do next to develop their CWB ecosystem.
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