The primary goal of Leadership Jefferson is to educate current and future community leaders about Jefferson County's assets, opportunities, and hurdles, in order to strengthen the sense of community and ensure a prosperous future.
During the 10-month long program, participants will develop leadership and teamwork skills. Participants will also choose a Community Project from among proposals made by area non-profit organizations.
Participants will meet the movers and shakers in Jefferson County and the State of West Virginia, from government officials to business owners to private citizens, all of whom help make Jefferson County what it is and what it could be. Perhaps more importantly, participants will have great bonding experiences with each other and will build important relationships for the future.
Leadership Jefferson will meet every month from September through June. Each monthly module will involve interactions with relevant subject matter experts, questions and answers, tours, presentations, panels, discussions, competitions, challenges, intellectual stimulation, and fun.
The program will cover one topic every month:
| Leadership Retreat | September 3-4, 2008 |
| Local Government | October 8 |
| Agriculture | November 12 |
| Economic Development | December 10 |
| History and Culture | January 14 |
| State Government | February TBA ( 2 days in Charleston) |
| Land Use | March 11 |
| Education | April 8 |
| Tourism and Recreation | May 13 |
| Public Safety and Health | June 10 |
| Graduation Banquet | June TBA |
Tuition will be $825 for members of the Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce ($975 for non-members). Tuition will cover lodging at the Retreat and in Charleston, all meals, activity costs, transportation to Charleston, and the graduation banquet for the participant and a guest. A *non-refundable deposit of $350 ($400) will be due upon acceptance of the Applicant; the remaining tuition will be due.
The participant's sponsor or employer should pay the tuition. More importantly, the sponsor or employer MUST agree to let the participant attend all functions. That means two days in September, two days in February, the second Wednesday of every month from October through June (except February), and another day to be determined by the participants themselves to complete the community project. This will be money and time well spent.
* To ensure the success of the program, payments will be non-refundable. If an employer would like to substitute another person because of a change in circumstances, the employer must obtain approval from the Leadership Jefferson Director prior to the start of the program.
After reading this information, we invite you to download and fill out the application and return it to us by June 6, 2008 for this exciting and important program!
(18kb PDF)
The application is in Adobe Acrobat PDF format. To view it you will need to have Adobe Acrobat Reader software installed. If you do not already have this software installed, you can download it directly from Adobe.
