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Wilkes leaders graduate from course for regional economic development
County Commissioner John Howard, Washington City Councilmen Maceo Mahoney and Ed Pope Jr., and Washington-Wilkes Tourism Director Ashley Barnett graduated at the May 15 ceremony. "It was a real learning experience," said Pope. "We all got a lot out of it." Class participants represented a number of professional and nonprofessional economic development fields, including elected officials, public servants, business leaders, educators, and social service providers, from the 11 counties in the CSRA. The Academy provided each of the graduates an opportunity to gain a unique understanding of the complexities of economic and community development on the local, regional, and state levels. The Academy's multi-day program, taught in five days over a fourmonth period, includes training in the basics of economic and community development, plus specialized segments on entrepreneur and small business support, tourism product development, downtown development, quality planning, and other essentials for community success. "We split into teams and visited other counties in the region," Pope said. "We went in to assess things like zoning laws, economic development, future growth, water availability, then we had to come up with a business or industry that would fit in there." "I was teamed with the Mayor of Millen and the Chairman of Jefferson County," Barnett said. "Our homework assignment was on Hancock County and Sparta. We had to think of ourselves as a potential industry or business prospect that was coming to see if that county was suitable for us. We had to present the homework assignment at our last session of the class." "One of the goals for the multiday regional Academies is to encourage multi-county cooperation," says Saralyn Stafford, Executive Director of the Georgia Academy for Economic Development. "Many times the participants discover the issues facing their community are the same as those facing other communities in their region, and can then combine limited resources to address the issue." In addition, the curriculum features specific leadership skills such as consensus building, team work, ethics in public service, building diverse teams and other segments needed for effective community leadership in economic development. Local elected officials receive certification training credits through the Association County Commissioners of Georgia and the Georgia Municipal Association for completion of this program, and the program is certified for 3.5 CEUs through the UGA Georgia Center for Continuing Education. "I can't say enough great things about this class," Turner said. "Tina Hutchinson with DCA and Don Powers with GDEcD were a wealth of knowledge as well as all of the guest speakers. Being new to the job, I benefited greatly from this class." Georgia EMC and Georgia Power provide facilitators for the program, and the Georgia Department of Community Affairs provides staff support to this important program. Financial support for the regional leadership training program is provided through the Leadership Infrastructure Investment Fund set up by the General Assembly, which allows the program to be offered at an affordable cost to all participants, with scholarship funding provided through the OneGeorgia Authority for those with demonstrated need for this assistance.
Created in 1993 by then-Governor Zell Miller's Development Council, the Academy assembles a cross section of economic development professionals and resources to provide this training in all twelve service delivery regions in Georgia. The next Region 7 Georgia Academy for Economic Development will begin February, 2008. For more information on this, please contact Tina Hutcheson, DCA Region 7 Representative at 478-469-3751 or by email thutches@dca.state.ga.us.
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