Now in its third year, a University of Georgia leadership initiative will add seven more organizations from around the state that are strengthening their communities through new leadership development programming.

Started in 2020 by the J.W. Fanning Institute for Leadership Development, a unit of UGA Public Service and Outreach, the Innovations in Community Leadership Initiative provides resources and technical support to communities and organizations in Georgia seeking to enhance their leadership development efforts.

“Effective leadership development plays a foundational role in a community’s long-term vitality, but the resource commitment required can be substantial,” said Matt Bishop, director of the Fanning Institute. “This initiative allows us to partner with communities dedicated to developing leaders and help ensure they have the resources to do so successfully.”

The 2022 Innovations in Community Leadership Initiative recipients are:

• The Wheeler County Chamber of Commerce, which is revamping the community’s youth leadership program.

• United Way of Northwest Georgia, which is expanding its youth leadership and community engagement program in Whitfield and Murray counties

• Self-Discovery: Pain, Positioning & Purpose (SDp3), which will implement a leadership development program for stakeholders in order to expand the organization’s services into rural communities

• Lee County Family Connection, Inc., which is creating a youth ambassador program to further engage graduates of its youth leadership academy in the community

• The Cairo-Grady County Chamber of Commerce, which will restart its adult community leadership program, Leadership Grady.

• Brightpaths, which is creating a leadership development program with a mentoring component for program staff and parent volunteers in its seven-county service area, including Athens-Clarke, Barrow, Madison, Oconee, Oglethorpe, Jackson and Walton counties.

• BEE Club, Inc., which will enhance leadership programming for high school girls in Fulton and Athens-Clarke counties.

“Leadership Grady will connect leaders to Grady County and equip them with the knowledge to address the challenges our community faces in the years ahead,” said Jennifer Jarvis, executive director of the Cairo-Grady County Chamber of Commerce. “We are grateful for the opportunity to partner with the Fanning Institute through this initiative.”

Over the next year, Fanning Institute faculty and staff will work with these organizations to develop and build out their proposed leadership programs.

“All of this year’s applicants submitted very strong ideas for how this initiative would support their leadership development efforts,” said Brittany Adams-Pope, Fanning Institute public service faculty. “We are excited to partner with this year’s recipients to bring their programs to life in their communities.”

The recipients represent all areas of our state and we look forward to cultivating successful partnerships with these organizations.”

As part of the Innovations in Community Leadership Initiative, communities are expected to sustain and continue the programming over multiple years.

In the initiative’s first two years, the Fanning Institute has partnered with 15 organizations around Georgia.

Funding for the Innovations in Community Leadership Initiative has been donated by members of the Fanning Institute Advisory Board, most notably a lead gift from the James L. Allgood Family.

“We are grateful to the Allgood family and our advisory board for their commitment to developing leaders across our state,” Bishop said.

The institute will accept applications for the next round of the Innovations in Community Leadership Initiative in spring 2023. For more information, click here.