Apply for Emerging Community Leaders

Choose your Emerging Community Leaders program.

Emerging Community Leaders

ECL @ Illinois

Which program is right for me?

Emerging Community Leaders - Open to all community members in the C-U and surrounding areas who can meet the in-person attendance requirements with many events in Champaign. Participants must be 21 years old and the suggested age range is about 21-40, which matches expectations for professional and community experience to fit the program.

ECL @ Illinois - Open only to UIUC employees and programming is offered on campus during the lunch hour. There is no suggested participant age range. At this time, employees working in an extra help or academic hourly capacity are not eligible to participate in ECL @ Illinois - we welcome you to apply for our Emerging Community Leaders program.

Both Emerging Community Leaders options offer the same core content. Regardless of which program you choose, you will have access to the same shared social events and community volunteerism events. The 2026 application period closes at noon on Monday, March 9. Letters of ecommendation can be provided via email after application submission, but still before noon on March 9.

YES, I'm in!

By checking this box, you acknowledge the following:

You have read the 2026 ECL Program Overview or ECL @ Illinois Program Overview. (Recommended to open Program Overviews in a different tab.)
You either live or work in Champaign County, Illinois
You understand the ECL program has minimum requirements for graduation including attendance to seminars and volunteering. (In total, about 2 hours weekly.)
You understand that the ECL program includes participation in a group project.
You are excited to get more involved in the Champaign County community!

Confirm Email Address

The majority of our communication for the Emerging Community Leaders program is via email. Please provide an address you check frequently.

First Name

Last Name

Preferred first name for your nametag

Home Address

Home Address 2

City/Town

State

ZIP Code

Workplace Name

Your Job Title

Office Phone

Office Address

Office Address 2

City/Town

State/Province

ZIP/Postal Code

Unit or Department Name

Your Job Title

Office Phone

Campus Address

Campus Address 2

City/Town

State

ZIP/Postal Code

Supervisor Name

How many years have you lived or worked in Champaign County?

This information helps us tailor the program content to our participants!

Short Answers

We would love to get to know you better! Please provide brief, informational responses to the following questions. Responses must be at least 25 words, and are limited to 250 words.

1

One goal of the Emerging Community Leaders is to help people connect with their community and find new ways to give back. Please share the ways you've been involved in your community or workplace over the past few years.

Community/Work Involvement Activities

2

A large part of the Emerging Community Leaders program is a Team Project. We would love for you to share an example of a time you demonstrated leadership and/or worked with a team to overcome a challenge.

Leadership and Teamwork

3

Emerging Community Leaders is an opportunity for personal and professional growth. How do you hope to grow by participating in the ECL program?

Personal Statement

Letter of Recommendation

To complete your ECL application, you must submit one letter of recommendation. The letter of recommendation may be from a personal, professional, or volunteer source.

If you do not upload a letter today, you may submit one via email to Anne Clark Skuse.
One file only.
10 MB limit.
Allowed types: txt, rtf, pdf, doc, docx, odt, ppt, pptx, odp, xls, xlsx, ods.