The Leadership Forsyth Program
The LF Beliefs are:
Integrity is the foundation of leadership.
Everyone has the capacity to be a leader.
Collaborative leadership optimizes possibilities.
The LF Class Program begins with the application process. Participants for each leadership class are selected to establish a diverse group in terms of race, sex, and occupation.
Participants are those who care about the quality of life in Forsyth County community and those who wish to develop their own skills to help share and direct its future. Each leadership class includes individuals from the business, social service, neighborhoods, religious, cultural and educational organizations that make up Forsyth County. Nominations for this program come from businesses, organizations and individuals. Final selection of participants is determined by the LF Selection Process Committee, which is comprised of current LF Board members as well as Alumni. The selection process begins in January and class members are selected no later than June 15. Please go to our Forms Tab or to the bottom of this page to complete a Candidate Information Form (CIF) for more information.
Participants are charged tuition to defray the cost of guest speakers, transportation, meals, orientation, retreat, graduation expenses and administrative costs. Cost for the entire 2008-2009 10-month program is $1200.00 plus a $25.00 non refundable application fee. Each participant is responsible for paying their own tuition or for making arrangements for their tuitions to be paid by their employer or sponsoring organization. If needed, however, the applicant may request special financial arrangements. The United Way and LF also offers help with scholarships. Special consideration is given to participants associated with non-profit organizations.
LF has graduated over 400 participants, led entirely by a volunteer Board of Directors and Alumni. The LF program consists of an evening orientation, a two-day retreat, nine one-day sessions, periodic study group sessions and a graduation ceremony. Meetings and activities are distributed over a ten-month period beginning in August. Each participant is expected to make a commitment to attend all events and sessions.
During each session, participants learn about the challenges facing Forsyth County , and about the people and organizations that work to develop and manage the response to these challenges. Participants also learn new leadership skills to use in their efforts to address community issues.
Community orientation sessions include presentations on public safety, health, growth, education, regional relationships, planning, and quality of life. The format of each session gives participants facts, opinions and ideas relating to the subject and lets the participants speak directly with county leaders and service providers about problems, solutions, issues and opportunities.
Class members will learn to enhance leadership skills through use of facilitators in the areas of conflict mediation, communication, diversity and change management. Further, participants will promote interaction through group discussion and activities. As a means to this end, participants will visit different facilities and the following schedule is a typical annual program:
2008-09 Program Schedule
- August 26 – LF New Class Reception
- September 19 & 20 – Opening Retreat Lake Lanier's Legacy on Lanier (2 days)
- October 7 – History of Forsyth County - Agenda
- October 21 – Business & Leadership - Agenda
- November 11 – Public Service I
- December 9– Schools/Education
- January 13 - Local Government
- February 10 – Visit to State Legislature
- March 10 – Public Service II
- April 14 – Environment
- May 5 – Non-Profit/LF Class Wrap-up
- May 15 - Graduation Dinner/Ceremony
Alumni have the opportunity to be involved through Leadership Link events, on-going community projects involving regional issues, voter's registration, Senior Center, United Way agencies, youth mentoring, leadership education and development. As mentioned earlier, more than 70 percent of our graduates are involved in either a community or civic organization upon completion of our program.
Interested? We will be accepting Candidate Information Forms for the 2008-09 LF Class beginning January 1, 2008 until March 10, 2008. Please submit the following form during this time period: