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"Leadership is action, not position. Get into the act."
For Talisha Coppock, director of the Commission for Bloomington Downtown, and Suzanne Phillips, assistant dean of students at Indiana University Bloomington, for example, "getting into the act" translated as working on a resource guide for community event and festival planning. Today, they are co-directors of Hoosierfest, a fall music festival that last year drew a record crowd of 10,000. (It's scheduled this year Aug. 28.)
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A vision of doing good must be implemented by taking one step at a time. Changing a single life may be as important as trying to change a whole community at once.
--Peggy Frisbie |
This marks the 15th year for LBMC, which prepares participants to be community leaders.
"The program definitely motivated me toward more community involvement," said Diane Gregory, director of the Community for Lifelong Learning. "I learned a lot about opportunities and have become involved in several new things. Now I see more reasons to be involved." Suzanne Ament, a 1997-98 participant, agreed. "I see myself more as a leader, someone with vision and the capacity to carry things forward."
Starting each October, about 30 participants meet every other Thursday to interact with experts and each other. Each session takes place at a site related to the session's topic. Instructors are community leaders, officials and experts who help participants place important issues into context. "The diversity of program topics and meeting sites was most beneficial in establishing a complete awareness of the community and its problems, opportunities and challenges," said Mike Gentile, an employee at Crane Naval Ammunition Depot.
Each January, participants break up into five or six teams that develop community projects. One such project in 1986-1987 led to the establishment of a Goodwill store on Bloomington's south side. Projects in 1988-89 resulted in a formal Earth Day celebration, the creation of a Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety Commission, and New Beginnings, an interactive series of classes for adults. A second project from last year will soon lead to the installation of audible traffic signals that will allow residents with sight impairments to safely navigate busy intersections.
Judy Seigle, office manager for Bloomington Parks and Recreation, said her project team experience "taught team-building skills, compromise, involvement and in-depth learning about a relatively unfamiliar topic."
"Leadership Bloomington/Monroe County is a powerful force in shaping Bloomington's future," said LBMC director Jane Clay. "It equips emerging leaders with skills to address the community's challenges and helps them develop networks they can continue to draw upon to help the community reach its potential. Moreover, the program has raised awareness in the community about several issues, laying the groundwork for such projects as the master plan, the community foundation and the hazardous waste management facility."
For some alums of the program, participation in LBMC activities does not stop with graduation in May. Many go on to raise scholarship funds for LBMC applicants who would not otherwise be able to participate in the program. Others visit cities with issues similar to Bloomington's to share ideas and strategies. City visits have been made to West Lafayette and Lexington, Ky., and another is scheduled for Ann Arbor, Mich., later this year. And still other alums continue to pursue activities related to the projects they worked on in LBMC.
Attorney Peggy Frisbie graduated from LBMC in 1997. Her experience in the program, she said, taught her "that a vision of doing good must be implemented by taking one step at a time and that changing a single life one-on-one may be as important as trying to change a whole community at once."
Interested in more information? Go to this site:
http://www.indiana.edu/~scs/iub/lbmc.html
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