LEADERSHIP CHESTER COUNTY BUSTOUR SHOWCASES SOCIAL SERVICE
West Chester, PA – Leadership Chester County (LCC) began its 2011-2012 instructional year with a county-wide bus tour of local nonprofit organizations including Safe Harbor Shelter, West Chester Area Senior Center, Handi-Crafters, Lord’s Pantry, Coatesville Center for Community Health, Habitat for Humanity, and Chester County Food Bank.
Mary Anne Feeley, Facilitator for Leadership Chester County, explains “These visits help illustrate that social services are critical to many people in our community. Showcasing the programs and services, understanding the social problems they address and realizing the challenges of service delivery informs the rest of the coursework. It inspires the class to take that knowledge into effective board service.”
Leadership Chester County is an 8-month, 15-session leadership development course designed to educate individuals in governance, ethics, and organizational aspects of serving on nonprofit Boards of Directors. Students undergo an interactive and intense program with sessions in Nonprofit Fiscal Management, Board Fiduciary Responsibility, Strategic Planning, Board Governance and Development, Social Entrepreneurship, Community Problem Solving, Advocacy. Relational Leadership and Balancing Commitments prepare them for managing the personal demands of community service at the board level.
Randy Schauer, Esq., Fox Rothschild LLP, and LCC Advisory Board Chairman, proudly explains, “Following the class of 2011, we have 229 Leadership Chester County graduates, with over 200 different nonprofits benefitting from class projects and graduate board service. But it’s not just the numbers that matter – it’s about where they go and what they do. We aim to make people comfortable with the idea of serving and setting a pattern of making a difference.”
Each year, LCC classes are presented with an interactive team-building project which incorporates key elements of the curriculum and develops their understanding of how active, engaged boards solve problems for nonprofits. The LCC Class of 2012 will work closely with the Chester County Food Bank to develop a business plan for their growth and expansion into areas currently underserved.
One participant reflected on the day. "The bus tour whistle-stop format to many related Chester County services was an extremely effective way to get a real-world sense of the human service delivery challenges we will further work on in the class curriculum. This was a very well organized glimpse of local social services agencies making a big impact in the community."
LCC Class of 2012 includes 31 individuals from a wide range of professional and volunteer experiences-nonprofit and public health program managers, lawyers, financial and operations managers, IT and marketing business leaders and a retired professor. LCC was formed in 2000 as a partnership between United Way of Chester County, Chester County Chamber of Business and Industry, and West Chester University (WCU) to provide committed individuals a comprehensive training for board leadership and a strong future for nonprofit organizations. The LCC program, curriculum and class project is managed and facilitated by United Way, with additional general resources provided by the Chamber and WCU.
Corporate sponsors, including AstraZeneca, Communications Test Design, Inc., Citadel Federal Credit Union, Gawthrop Greenwood, Bentley Systems, Siemens Healthcare, Saul Ewing, Lamb McErlane, The Hankin Group, Brandywine Valley Heating & Air Conditioning, First Niagara Bank and Sartomer, are investing in the future of Chester County and their companies as their participants in LCC enhance leadership skills and engage in community service.
For more information about the Chester County Leadership Connection contact Mary Anne Feeley at 610-429-9400 or Maryanne.feeley@unitedwaychestercounty.org.
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Leadership Chester County Class of 2012
Participants stopped at Chester County Food Bank to learn about food insecurity in Chester County. The Class of 2012 will be working with the Food Bank on this year’s class project – a business plan to expand food cupboards into areas of the county that are currently underserved.
