The application for the 2026-2027 cohort will open in May 2026.
Learning to Operationalize and Realize Equity (LORE)
A Foundations-Level Course in Organizational Change
An 8-month learning academy for public sector leaders that focuses on understanding how organizational systems shape outcomes and how those systems can be adapted to support more equitable, effective, and efficient practice.
Why is this Important?
Local governments are being asked to respond to challenges that look very different from the ones their organizations were built to manage. Structures that once supported stability now struggle to keep up with today’s pace of change, public scrutiny, and expectations for responsiveness. This often leaves capable staff trying to make progress within systems that limit what is possible. LORE helps practitioners better understand how their organizations function in practice and how existing structures and decision processes can be adapted to support more effective, efficient, and equitable outcomes.
In LORE, equity is treated as a foundational part of how organizations function, not a separate goal or initiative. Many inequitable outcomes persist not because of individual intent, but because long-standing structures and decision processes shape who benefits and who is left out. By examining how authority, roles, and norms operate in practice, participants learn how organizational design influences outcomes. This approach helps public institutions better align their values with how work actually gets done.
What to Expect
- Two Semesters, Guided Learning: The program is split into a fall semester focused on communication and decision-making and a spring semester focused on project implementation and process change.
- Applied Learning through Pilot Projects: Apply course concepts to real-world challenges within your organization through a core pilot project, providing hands-on experience in process change analysis.
- Comprehensive Curriculum: Learn how organizational structures and day-to-day processes influence outcomes, where misalignment creates barriers, and how small changes within existing systems can improve effectiveness, efficiency, and equity over time.
- Cohort-Based Community: Join a supportive peer network through monthly in-person workshops at the NIU Naperville campus and online interactive materials
Learning Objectives
LORE is designed to build participants’ capacity to understand and adapt public institutions built for another era. Rather than offering prescriptive solutions, the program strengthens participants’ ability to diagnose organizational dynamics, navigate complexity, and lead change responsibly over time.
By the end of the program, you and your organization will be able to:
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Understand why organizational change is difficult in public institutions, even when values and intent are strong;
- Explain how inherited organizational structures shape present-day constraints
- Recognize why well-intentioned change efforts stall or fragment
- Distinguish between effort gaps and structural capacity gaps
Diagnose organizational challenges through a structural, not individual, lens;
- Identify how authority, roles, decision-making processes, and norms influence outcomes
- Analyze where power operates in practice, not just on formal charts
- Reframe persistent challenges as organizational design issues rather than performance or culture problems alone
Apply organizational change concepts to real, current challenges within your own institution;
- Use organizational concepts to interpret challenges you are actively facing
- Identify small, strategic changes that can be tested within existing constraints
- Design a pilot project that works with institutional realities rather than around them
Use equity as a foundational lens for process analysis and change;
- Understand how organizational structures produce inequitable outcomes over time
- Identify how decision-making norms affect access, voice, and accountability
- Integrate equity considerations into how change is designed, not added after the fact
Navigate change across departments, roles, and levels of authority;
- Build shared language across functional and hierarchical boundaries
- Anticipate sources of resistance rooted in structure rather than attitude
- Work productively within ambiguous authority and competing expectations
Strengthen internal capacity for ongoing adaptation beyond a single initiative;
- Carry organizational insights into future initiatives and leadership roles
- Support colleagues in making sense of complexity and tradeoffs
- Approach change as a continuous practice rather than a one-time project
Who Should Apply?
LORE is particularly valuable for practitioners who:
- Are navigating complex change without clear precedents
- Want stronger tools for navigating complexity and tradeoffs
- Want to strengthen internal leadership capacity to manage external outcomes
- Feel the tension between equity values and institutional realities
- Are managing systems that feel increasingly misaligned with community expectations
Participants do not need any prior training in organizational theory. LORE provides a practical foundation grounded in lived experience.
We advise organizations to send a minimum of two participants. One of these individuals should be an executive- or senior-level leader (e.g., City Manager, County Administrator, Assistant City Manager, Department Head, etc). One or two additional staff members of any level who will be directly involved in pilot project implementation may join.
Structure & Commitment
Participants are expected to commit approximately 6 hours per month to LORE activities, including attending all in-person sessions (3 hours from 9am to 12pm) at the NIU Naperville campus and completing 2-3 hours of interactive online course materials, readings, and homework connected to their pilot projects. The in-person session dates and locations for the 2026-2027 program are listed below:
Fall Semester (12 credits)
- September 2, 2026
- October 7, 2026
- November 4, 2026
- December 2, 2026
Spring Semester (12 credits)
- February 3, 2027
- March 3, 2027
- April 7, 2027
- May 5, 2027
A light breakfast and coffee will be served at all in-person learning sessions.
Program Cost
The cost for participation is $840 per semester for each participant. This cost covers 12 hours of in-person instruction per semester ($210 per three-hour course), access to an online learning platform for coursework, peer learning, and coaching between sessions, and a certificate upon completion of the program.
C3E is committed to making this training accessible to professionals across organizations of all sizes. A limited number of scholarships and reduced rates are available for individuals or organizations where cost may be a barrier to participation. If you would like to request a scholarship or discuss alternative arrangements, please contact Katie Friedman at kfriedman@c3elocalgov.org.