The Ford Family Foundation is offering a free leadership program for West Umatilla County residents.
The Ford Institute Leadership Program focuses on developing community leadership skills in individuals. Area residents who wish to gain new tools for making positive change in the local community are encouraged to apply.
The deadline to apply is June 30. The class is free and includes tuition, meals and materials. Participants are only asked to attend monthly workshops and contribute to a class project. Workshops are held once per month over four months beginning in August and going through the month of December. The workshops are held on Friday from 1 to 6 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Previous class projects include Umatilla County Fairgrounds and planters, the Echo Skate Park and the Umatilla-Morrow Head Start building.
Kelly Sanders of Good Shepherd Medical Center took part in the first leadership class.
“I really enjoyed learning new skills and working together with class participants on our class project to beautify and improve the fairgrounds,” he said.
Another former class participant, Liz Marvin, College Bound coordinator for Hermiston High School, said the leadership class provides valuable skills for residents of rural communities.
“They understand that in order to strengthen these communities and give them a level playing field statewide and nationally, they need to provide leadership training with hands-on curriculum that is applicable at all levels,” she said. “It also gave me an opportunity to meet people from Echo, Stanfield, Umatilla and Hermiston that are not in my everyday path. This, in turn, has strengthened my sense of community.”
The program information, training dates, and application are available online at the Ford Foundation website.
For more information, contact Kristine Mier at 612-432-6318 or e-mail her at kmier@rdiinc.org.
