Developing Leaders
At VCET, we know that lasting change starts with bold, values-driven leadership — especially from those most impacted by injustice.
Our leadership programs equip emerging leaders with the tools, networks, and confidence to challenge the status quo and reimagine a more just future.
The Virginia Progressive Leadership Program (VAPLP) is our flagship initiative for grassroots leadership development in Virginia. Since its inception, VAPLP has trained nearly 150 change-makers across the Commonwealth, preparing them to lead movements, shape policy, and build power in their communities. Participants engage in four months of intensive workshops, one-on-one coaching, and community-building that centers relational, liberatory leadership.
In 2024, VAPLP’s 10th pod was made up of 75% BIPOC leaders. The program deepened its accessibility commitments with full stipends, childcare support, and Spanish-English interpretation, ensuring no one was left out of this transformative experience due to cost or care responsibilities.
VIRGINIA PROGRESSIVE LEADERSHIP PROGRAM
In Virginia, we are experiencing the severe effects of racial injustice, violent repression, and health inequities, all within a context of attacks on democracy. Social and progressive political movements have reached new levels of power and reach, yet there are still barriers to civic participation for those who have been historically excluded, erased, and imprisoned. The tide is shifting for a wave of progressive leadership to build a new Virginia in the shell of the old.
The Virginia Progressive Leadership Program (VAPLP) is a four-month experiential learning program for leaders who are Black, Indigenous, or part of the global majority and those with diverse lived experiences who aim to transform systems & culture to realize the Virginia we imagine.
Unlike holistic leadership development programs, VAPLP is focused by applying a lens of liberatory leadership to social movement strategy. By embracing the tension between the realities of Virginia as it is and the dreams of liberation embodied in the vision of Virginia as it should be, participants will learn practices & tools that move social change work forward.
SPOTLIGHT:
MEET KASHISH PILLAI
VAPLP ALUMNI, POD 10
“I learned that people play many different roles in movements — some are visionaries, some are catalysts, some are weavers who bring people together. Seeing all these roles laid out made me realize that leadership isn’t one-size-fits-all.” — Kashish Pillai
As a South Asian woman working in Virginia housing policy, Kashish Pillai often found herself one of the only people of her background in political rooms. The lack of representation felt isolating. But in VAPLP, Kashish found something she hadn’t expected: not just a network, but a redefinition of what leadership could look like.
Through VAPLP, Kashish discovered a new framework for power—one that validated her strengths as a connector and strategist. She embraced a leadership model that moved beyond urgency and objectivity, toward collective wisdom, intentionality, and community-rooted action.
VAPLP didn’t just boost her confidence. It gave her language, clarity, and direction. Today, Kashish brings a solutions-focused lens to her policy work, embedding community voices into housing strategy and helping reimagine what inclusive governance can look like.