Lee County Leadership gears up for next class

BY PCC STAFF

KEOKUK - The Lee County Leadership Program is requesting applications for emerging leaders to participate in the class of 2018. The program will train accepted applicants in community-based leadership skills. Throughout the process, participants will use their learned skills to implement projects for the better of the communities in Lee County. Classes and events will occur October 2017 through May 2018 at various locations within Lee County. The Lee County Leadership Program is a partnership between the Fort Madison Area Chamber of Commerce, Keokuk Area Chamber of Commerce and Iowa State University Extension and Outreach.

The Lee County Leadership Program utilizes researched-based leadership curriculum from ISU Extension and Outreach. The class of 2018 will improve on four core leadership skill sets including understanding community leadership and your community, identifying issues and framing ideas, building social capital, and mobilizing resources for community action. The projects that leadership trainees will implement based off of these learned skills will be chosen from submitted projects from area nonprofit groups.

Class sessions will rotate around the various communities in Lee County and will also include local speakers that provide examples of leadership. Both rural areas and towns will be showcased. In addition to building skills and implementing community projects, the class of 2018 will attend the Iowa Legislature’s Southeast Iowa Region Days in Des Moines to network with government officials and lobby on behalf of Southeast Iowa.

“This will be the program’s third year, and we are excited to graduate a new emerging group of Lee County leaders,” saidLeeann Shaffer-Smith, Program Coordinator with ISU Extension and Outreach of Lee County. “There are 20 leadership graduates from the last two years of the program. They continue to get together to network and are more involved in their communities. We are excited to train the next group of leaders and have them join this growing network."

The full class schedule and applications are available on sponsor websites atwww.fortmadison.com,www.keokukchamber.com, andwww.extension.iastate.edu/lee. Space is limited, and members of the class of 2018 will be chosen based on leadership potential. Consent from the participant’s employer is required.

Tuition is $625 for Chamber members and $850 for all other participants. Tuition includes accommodations for Southeast Iowa Region Days in Des Moines. Applications are due by September 1 and the class of 2018 will be announced in mid-September.

The Lee County Leadership Program is a partnership between the Fort Madison Area Chamber of Commerce, Keokuk Area Chamber of Commerce and Iowa State University Extension and Outreach. It is also supported by an advisory board with representatives from the Lee County Health Department, Lee County Auditor’s office, Alliant Energy, Fort Madison Partners,Lee County Charitable Fund, Keokuk Area Community Foundation, United Way of the Great River Region, and CBIZ of Southeastern Community College.