Continuing and Expanding the Multicultural Social Justice Leadership Conversation: An Introduction to the Special Issue of the Journal for Social Action in Counseling and Psychology on the 2010 Multicultural Social Justice Leadership Development Academy

Brave and Viral Creativity This past spring 2010, Michael D'Andrea and I (Carlos) discussed the importance of the first Multicultural-Social Justice Leadership Development Academy (MSJLDA). This special event, to be conducted during the American Counseling Association's annual conference, in Pittsburgh, PA, was designed to promote understanding of multicultural-social justice leadership development and its applications. The day-long program included selected presentations organized to increase participants' knowledge about multicultural-social justice leadership, its development, and ways to effectively implement this leadership in a broad range of settings and populations. During this conversation, we envisioned ways in which to expand the narratives and conversations that were to be initiated at this seminal event. Our goal was to engage presenters and participants in a co-constructive dialogue during and after the Academy. coordinator of the event, joined the conversation. We discussed different ways to involve the participants and to continue the dialogue after the Academy. Each one of our ideas shared a common purpose, to build a special journal issue to share different co-constructed narratives about how to develop multicultural, social justice leadership. Our quest was to integrate the presenters' views with those of the participants, as well as to engage them in creating shared plans for action. Our goals for this Special Issue were to premier the outcomes of these conversations, highlight what was learned during the 2010 MSJLDA, and serve as a scaffolding foundation for future discussions.