Registration for this year’s Leadership Oglethorpe program closes Jan. 15. For more details and an application, go to oglethorpechamber.com/news/13295271 and click the link to the application to download a PDF.
This year marks the fifth iteration of Leadership Oglethorpe, a program dedicated to growing a new generation of career-minded individuals with leadership capabilities.
The group’s goal for 2024 is to turn leadership over from co-founders Cary Fordyce and Jeff Welch to the alumni who are going through facilitator training and planning.
Welch said a high school senior who went throught the Leadership Oglethorpe middle school program returned to help facilitate the process.
“We’re looking for a way to make the program sustainable,” he said. “So we’ve been trying to develop the past students to take on the responsibilities and some of the training.”
More than 70 people have completed one of two alternating annual programs, adult or middle school youth. The application deadline for this year’s program, which is set to run from February to September, is Monday, Jan. 15.
The idea for the program was born about 15 years ago, when Fordyce and Welch realized that Oglethorpe County was one of the only areas in Georgia without a program for enhancing the county’s leadership skills.
“Most counties and cities in the state, and around the country, have a program to equip citizens to assume leadership roles in their area,” Fordyce said. “We were talking about that and realized that Oglethorpe was one of about 10 counties in Georgia that did not have a program. And so we started working on it.”
In 2018, the Oglethorpe Rotary Club joined with the Oglethorpe County Chamber of Commerce and other supporting organizations to establish the program, dedicated to growing a new generation of career-minded individuals with leadership capabilities.
The program has grown to include curriculum for both adults and students. It operates in partnership with UGA’s J.W. Fanning Institute for Leadership Development, which provides the curriculum and specialized training for specific subjects.
“It’s been an added bonus,” Fordyce said. “Not only are we training adults, but we're also training students to be leaders.”
Over the course of 26 weeks, participants work to build the skills necessary to finding and expanding employment opportunities, such as learning the importance of entrepreneurship, networking and being involved with community organizations.
The program also aims to increase financial literacy and enhance the community’s knowledge on nonprofits, civic and corporate sectors.
Over the course of the program, participants will engage in multiple sessions, with topics that include:
- Socio-demographic
- Understanding values and diversity
- Communicating effectively
- Economic development, making group decisions
- Elected officials, building communities through collaborations
- Volunteerism/nonprofit
- Grooming future leaders
- Education/youth development
- Comprehensive plan
- Local government
- Leading community change
- Community growth
Participants also have the chance to network and be mentored by county residents. The topics vary for the programs for students.
“When you say leadership, people don't really understand the different facets of leadership,” Fordyce said. “And it's not just leading, it's understanding, you know, who your clientele is, how to get the community together.”