About

The Leadership Development Institute (LDI) strives to advance racial justice and dismantle institutional systems of oppression within mental health and psychology by fostering leadership development, collective healing, and organizational coalition-building among early career psychologists of color. The LDI is sponsored by the Coalition of National Racial Ethnic Psychological Associations (CONREPA) in collaboration with the Society of Counseling Psychology (Division 17 of the American Psychological Association). CONREPA consists of the following national associations: American Arab, Middle Eastern and North African Psychological Association (AMENA Psy), Asian American Psychological Association (AAPA), Association of Black Psychologists (ABPsi), National Latinx Psychological Association (NLPA), Society of Indian Psychologists (SIP), and the Society for the Psychological Study of Ethnic Minority Issues – Division 45 of the American Psychological Association (APA).

LDI Goals

Goal 1.

Create a mechanism for identifying and/or attracting racially and ethnically diverse psychologists and mental health professionals to become active participants in CONREPA and its respective organizations.

Goal 2.

Foster and support culturally grounded leadership skills among psychologists and mental health professionals of color that are transferable to multiple settings (e.g., families, work settings, professional organizations, neighborhoods communities, etc.).

Goal 3.

Establish networking and sustainable coaching and mentoring opportunities to nurture ongoing leadership development.

Goal 4.

Develop a model of multiracial and multiethnic coalition-building to promote inter-organizational collaborations.

History

The LDI was first approved by the Council of National Psychological Associations for the Advancement of Ethnic Minority Interests (CNPAAEMI) in Phoenix, Arizona in February 2008 and conceived by Alvin Alvarez, then the President of the Asian American Psychological Association. The LDI was driven by three factors. First, CNPAAEMI recognized that the national ethnic minority psychological associations had a shared need to create a systemic leadership pipeline for psychologists of color. At that point in time, none of the associations had a formalized mechanism for fostering and supporting leadership development within their respective organizations. Second, CNPAAEMI recognized and affirmed the need to develop a leadership program that was grounded in the cultural, racial and ethnic worldviews and values that informed who we are as individuals, as professionals and as leaders within our associations. Lastly, the Council recognized that given the importance of organizational solidarity – across the various ethnic minority psychological associations – a leadership development program would provide an ideal space to begin to create the interpersonal networks that would subsequently be the foundation for the organizational coalitions that were critical to our collective effectiveness. A working group was created to develop and seek funding for the LDI at the Boston APA Convention in August of 2008 with the Society of Counseling Psychology joining the collaboration from the onset. In 2023, CNPAAEMI transitioned into the Coalition of National Racial Ethnic Psychological Associations (CONREPA) and the LDI continued to be sponsored by the umbrella organization. In 2024, the American Arab, Middle Eastern and North African Psychological Association joined the LDI with its first Fellow as part of the 11^th Cohort of Fellows.

As of 2025-2026, the LDI has trained 12 years of Fellow Cohorts from each of the CNPAAEMI/CONREPA member organizations – making it the longest standing, organizational collaboration between national ethnic psychological associations. Since 2008, the LDI exemplifies coalition building at its finest. It began with the steadfast commitment and vision of the first LDI Executive Committee who labored for four years to create the LDI: AAPA – Alvin Alvarez, ABPsi -Linda James Myers, Division 17-Helen Neville, Division 45-Lisa Rey Thomas, NLPA – Evie Garcia, and SIP-Marge Smith. Since its inception, the LDI has been funded jointly by each of the CONREPA/CNPAAEMI organizations, Division 17, Division 45 and APA’s Commission on Ethnic Minority Recruitment, Retention, and Training in Psychology (CEMRRAT).  