Leadership Chambers County invests in future community leaders

Pictured above are the first participants of the Leadership Chambers County, a project created to help foster leadership skills through networking opportunities, seminars and more. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

BY KADIE VICK

THE LAFAYETTE SUN

CHAMBERS COUNTY — Leadership Chambers County is a program designed to develop future leaders within Chambers County through programs, networking opportunities, seminars, projects and more.

“Our goal for this program was to get people to run for office, volunteer or be a committee member,” said Chambers County Development Authority Project Manager Andie Chambley. “We have multiple individuals running for office in the next municipal election in August. So we are pretty proud that some of the participants feel encouraged and involved enough to step up and run for those leadership roles. That’s what we want out of the program, for people to do stuff like that.”

The first group of participants included 15 Chambers County residents to ensure everyone would be able to build relationships with one another.

“One of the primary goals of this leadership development program is for participants to build relationships with their classmates and with the people who are speaking,” said Chambers County Development Authority Senior Project Manager Ansley Emfinger. “So keeping a smaller group definitely fosters that a little bit better.”

Emfinger said that the program will remain fairly consistent for each group of participants who attend the classes, but that there will also be improvement where needed.

“We’re going to try and keep the same framework for every leadership class, just so each group is generally getting the same information,” she said. “We plan on making our sessions on the same topics, but we will evolve as needed. Ultimately, we want to keep the program pretty consistent.”

Those interested in participating can apply in October and must be over 21 years old, a Chambers County resident, must attend all classes to graduate and may not have previously participated in the program.

“It does cost $500 to participate, but we encourage employers to sponsor employees,” Chambley said. “The sponsorship forms are available Oct. 1 through Oct. 31. So, nomination, application and sponsorship forms will all go out during that time period.”

Emfinger said that it is important to teach future leaders about the community and what happens behind the scenes to maintain daily operations, community health and growth.

“It is important to have people who are knowledgeable about the way things work in the community, as well as people who will improve volunteering in the community,” she said. “We want to retain our local talent. When people feel more connected to a community, they’re more likely to stay. We want to not only retain people, but also encourage them to stay involved and get more involved in their community. That’s just a win-win for Chambers County.”

Chambley said that she is pleased with how the first year of the Leadership Chambers County program has gone and looks forward to continuing to educate future local leaders.

“We’re really excited because everything has gone so well, and we’re seeing such good responses from the participants, not only in the surveys, but on their own social media accounts and things that they say in public too,” she said.

For more information, visit Leadership Chambers County on Facebook.