President Obama. I spent the morning exploring The Obama Presidential Center; A Global Center for Change website. I've read a lot about the work, but had not studied it before today.

The “OP Center’s leadership training program sounds a lot like the one I went to at The Great Valley Center, in California (the inspiration of another great leader, Carol Whiteside) Talk about empowerment, that six-month program took the cake. In my class alone, 48 of our 240 alumni have run for and won an elected office. More than 100 have been appointed to governmental positions, and a whopping 146 serve on boards of non-profits. And many of us have done all three (including me).

Schools, colleges and universities do not teach civics anymore, let alone leadership, activism, or organizing, so we must build these programs ourselves. That is the reason, I wanted to take a moment to say thank you for your continued leadership, after you left office. I wish all presidents were inspiring leaders, like you, Jimmy Carter and Dwight D. Eisenhower (my daughter participated in his leadership program, known as the People to People Student Ambassador program).