MIT and Ruderman Foundation launch Digital Leadership program

The Ruderman Family Foundation, international leaders in advocating for the full inclusion of people with disabilities into society, has partnered with Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) Sloan School of Management to deliver a first-of-its-kind certificate program on leadership in the digital age.

Lead20@MIT — whose inaugural course will be held Sunday, May 12, through Friday, May 17, at MIT’s campus in Cambridge, Mass. — will equip 27 passionate advocacy leaders from around the world with the theories and strategies in the areas of digital media, networking, and entrepreneurship which they need to become high-impact social influencers in the realms of disability inclusion and social justice.

The course will be taught by MIT faculty and those who complete it will receive an accredited certificate from the Sloan School of Management, whose non-degree executive programs provide business professionals with a targeted and flexible means to advance their career development goals and position their organizations for future growth. The Ruderman Family Foundation is completely covering participants’ tuition as well as their travel and accommodation expenses.

“The Ruderman Family Foundation is proud to partner with the MIT Sloan School of Management to host the upcoming course LEAD20@MIT Leadership in the Digital Age. We believe that this program will provide some of the leading disability rights and social justice advocates the tools to powerfully impact society through the enhancement of their activism through social media and digital communication. The disability rights movement is a civil rights movement representing twenty percent of our population that is the poorest segment of society. This is a movement whose time has come and this course will help accelerate the movement’s impact on our world,” said Jay Ruderman, President of the Ruderman Family Foundation.

The five-day Lead20@MIT program sought participants with and without disabilities who have a history of advocacy, a presence on social media, and a willingness to “take their activism to the streets.” The application process began in the summer of 2018 with more than 200 applicants from all over the world. The final group of 27 participants — including policymakers, disability inclusion advocates, YouTubers and bloggers, journalists, and more — was selected following a long and careful review with input from influential leaders in their fields.

“There has been such a tremendous response across our faculty and staff to work with The Ruderman Family Foundation on this important and timely program. This program aligns with our wider mission to create principled and innovative leaders who improve the world, that the excitement on campus is palpable. We couldn’t be more excited to work with the Ruderman Family Foundation to develop a cadre of digital leaders that will immediately help shape the conversation, visibility, and actions to advance disability inclusion around the world,” said Rob Dietel, Director, Executive Programs at MIT Sloan.