Leadership Palm Beach County Class of 2013 recently selected its Civic Engagement program class projects, and class members are preparing to work closely with five Palm Beach County nonprofits to help them achieve strategic goals over the next nine months.
The five nonprofits whose proposals were selected out of a competitive pool are Alpert Jewish & Family Services, Big Dog Ranch Rescue, Habitat for Humanity, Take Stock in Children and Village Baptist Church in partnership with the Palm Beach County Food Bank.
The Civic Engagement program pairs each organization with a dedicated, small team of class members. Nonprofit staff and professional leaders work in partnership to tackle common issues faced by nonprofits, such as how best to recruit and mobilize volunteers, manage periods of low donations and scale successful programs. Class members will also benefit from this close collaboration as they learn the nonprofit landscape in Palm Beach County and apply their leadership skills to relevant challenges within organizations.
The Civic Engagement program reflects LPBC’s belief that groups of diverse, community-minded professionals generate creative, effective solutions to the county’s challenges as well as identify untapped opportunities. Organizations are excited to utilize different perspectives and areas of expertise that class members bring to the table.
Lauree Simmons, the president of Big Dog Ranch Rescue is looking forward to the experience. “The 2013 leadership class has such varied professional backgrounds,” she said. “We are looking forward to learning from their experience to help move our young nonprofit to the next level. And if they adopt a few of our dogs in the process, that’s even better.”
Class members on all the Civic Engagement projects look forward to the “potential to create real impact” through partnership with nonprofits that are working on behalf of vulnerable members of Palm Beach County. LPBC’s mission is to educate and unite leaders to build a better community. LPBC has prepared more than 1,000 graduates for enhanced community leadership roles.
For more information, visit www.leadershippbc.org.
