Civic Engagement: Local Leadership Programs – An Effective Tool for Civic Engagement

By Bret Schardein, Assistant County Administrator, County of Powhatan

One of our most effective tools for civic engagement we’ve found in Powhatan has been the Powhatan Leadership Institute (“PLI”). Many localities across Virginia have some form of leadership program, each a little different. In our case, it is a once a year program consisting of 15 in-person sessions held over several months, mostly in evenings. Attendance is capped at 35 classmates, and there is always that many or more signing up. With a population of 30,000, 35 people may not sound like a lot, but the smaller class size ensures participates who stay fully engaged for the duration, and allows it to be more interactive, so the impact the graduates have in the community at the end turns out to be disproportionately positive even if they are small in number. Our course is intended to give the participants a deeper understanding of how local government functions, and the citizens’ role in it. Presentations cover various departments, services, resources, community organizations, the judicial system, and businesses in the County. The curriculum includes a bus tour of the county, a trip to the General Assembly, presentation from the historical society, nearly a dozen sessions hosted by various County department heads and constitutional officers, and then ends with a dinner prepared by students in our high school culinary program, with the Board of Supervisors and School Board. The goal is to not just educate the students on our local government, but make them aware of all the ways they can play an active role in it once the class is over. Students have gone on to be elected to our Board of Supervisors, appointed to the Planning Commission, run for State office, as well as serve on countless citizen boards and committees. They also become empowered to share information about local issues with other citizens, and sometimes more importantly, they are able to counter misinformation. There is a board who helps develop the curriculum year to year, but it is the “Tri-Chairs”, three students from the prior year, who step up to run the day-to-day program for the next year. Each year a new set of tri-chairs arise from the class to carry the program forward. We also have about a dozen local businesses who sponsor the program to help cover the cost of facility rentals and food. If your locality does not have such a program, based on our experience I cannot recommend strongly enough that you consider creating one. Our program was started in 2005 by our local Chamber partnering with the County, and now more than 17 years later has educated hundreds of citizens, and is a source of community pride, you regularly hear people say “I was PLI class of 2009” etc. If your locality doesn’t have a citizen leadership program, partnering with your Chamber or Extension office is often how they are done. You might reach out to your neighbors or those in your PDC region to see who has programs, and find out about theirs, but I’m also glad to talk about our experience with PLI anytime.