New Directions in Politics and Public Policy

New Directions Civic Leadership & Community Organizing

A graduate program focused on public leadership, community/labor organizing, and social economy

Housed within the CU Denver Political Science Department, the New Directions program offers a Master's Degree in Political Science, and graduate level certificates in Public, Non-Profit, and Community Leadership, Labor & Community Organizing, and Social Economy. Our three tracks of study include:

  1. Local Public Leadership - in the fields of public policy and local government administration.  
  2. Community and labor organizing - including developing leaders in labor unions and community-based organizations 
  3. Social economy Innovations - such as worker-owned cooperatives and community land trusts, focusing on creative strategies for achieving economic growth with social equity.

All of our programs and courses develop our students' political acumen, enabling them to be effective leaders and agents of social change in neighborhoods, governmental jurisdictions, labor unions and community-based organizations.


Program Highlights

  • Weekend Intensive and Online Courses.  All courses in the program can be taken in an intensive weekend-retreat format, allowing completion of a class in just three separate weekends of work. The program also offers a growing range of online graduate courses. This class format consisting of weekend and online courses allows substantial flexibility to our students, many of whom work full-time or have other personal and family obligations.
     
  • Practical, Professional-Development Curriculum.  In addition to traditional coursework, students in the program are encouraged to build their studies around internships and independent study partnerships with local non-profits, labor unions, community-based organizations and government agencies. Final masters projects are typically designed in consultation with community partners so as to have real-world relevance and impact.
     
  • The Cathy Shipley Best and Brightest Internship Program.  This program features funded professional internships with local government jurisdictions in small and rural jurisdictions across Colorado, available only to Masters students in qualified programs like New Directions. These internships place masters students in positions such as assistant town manager or town sustainability officer, and offer a salary and benefits package of approximately $42,000 a year.
     
  • Community/Labor Leaders Scholarship Program.   Partnerships with Denver-area community-based organizations and labor unions allow select students to obtain Community/Labor Leaders Scholarships, which provide students with financial support to develop a program of study around the real-world needs of a specific community partner. 
     
  • Alumni Network. The Center for New Directions has a long record of educating masters students who have moved on to leadership positions across Colorado, serving as elected government leaders, town managers, university officials, non-profit directors, and public policy researchers and advocates across the state. This alumni network is a resource that has proven beneficial to many of our graduates seeking opportunities both during and after graduate school.