User:Lnrock

Leon Nathaniel Rock is an African American community development expert community development consultant and urban community development Subject Matter Expert (SME). Leon Rock has been active in creating community development programs, community technology programs, self sufficiency programs and other special projects for low-income people in his home town of Boston, Massachusetts and throughout the United States. Rock has extensive experience planning organization-wide efforts to increase an organization's effectiveness and/or efficiency and/or to enable the organization to achieve its strategic goals. He has extensive experience working with Federal, state and local housing agencies improve the organization's capacity to handle its internal and external functioning and relationships. He is a Subject Matter Expert in developing effective communication, along with working with individuals and groups to enhance thier ability to cope with organizational problems of all kinds. Rock has worked in both the public and private sector to assist key decision-makers on best practices and approaches to improve skills in dealing with destructive conflict, and higher levels of trust and cooperation among organizational members.

Early Years

Leon Rock was born on January 21, 1951 in Brooklyn, New York. His mother was a licensed hair dresser and single mother head of household. As a child, he overcame many of the challenges associated with dyslexia by adapting to the challenges through strong support from his mother and step father. He and his mother, lived in New York until he was 4 years old. His mother Lillian, was born and raised in Boston and her parents were both immigrants of Barbados. Attending the William Lyodd Garrison school in Boston, Leon and his 2 brothers and sister were taught early by their mother to be self advocates in a defacto segregated Boston Public School System. Leon says "My mothers advocacy and teaching me to be a self confident advocate turned out to be invaluable, as it paved the way for me to be a youth organ​izer in Boston." Leon Rock's early years of grassroots training included; working with nationally recognized community organizer and educator, Elllen Jackson as a teen in Roxbury, Massachusetts with her Operation Exodus program. He also received action-organizing coaching from State Representative Mel King, then Executive Director of the New Urban League of Greater Boston and the late Melenea Cass at Action Boston Community Development. He also received guidance and coaching from Otto and Muriel Snowden of Roxbury's Freedom House.