An Early Investment Pays Off Beth Maiden
In 1981, the Board of Directors of The Community Foundation released its first annual report. In that first list of grants is $5,000 to the Lorain County Regional Planning Commission "to research and design a training program for emerging leaders in civic endeavors". That initial grant lead to the creation of Leadership Lorain County, which graduated its first class of community leaders in 1986.
Leadership was a passion of the Foundation's first executive director Jeptha Carrell. He researched training programs from as close by to Lorain County as Dayton and as far away as San Francisco to come up with the model that is very similar to Leadership's current signature program which has graduated nearly 1,000 engaged civic leaders. Now in 2010, Leadership is also so much more than a civic engagement training program. Offering internships in public service to local college students, coordinating a series on good board governance, working with youth, and recognizing local leaders are all important components of today's Leadership Lorain County.
We at the Community Foundation are proud of the role we played in creating Leadership Lorain County, and consider it a wise investment. We are also proud to partner with and support Leadership today.
